Grace Harlowe's 
Overland Riders 


in the 

Black Hills 








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Frontispiece 


“Tony!” Screamed Elfreda. 















Grace Harlowe’s Overland 
Riders in the Black 
Hills 


By 

JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A.M. 

Author of The High School Girls Series, The College Girls Series, 
The Grace Harlowe Overseas Series, Grace Harlowe’s Overland 
Riders on the Old Apache Trail, Grace Harlowe’s Overland 
Riders on the Great American Desert, Grace Harlowe’s Over¬ 
land Riders Among the Kentucky Mountaineers, Grace 
Harlowe’s Overland Riders in the Great North 
Woods, Grace Harlowe’s Overland Riders in 
the High Sierras, Grace Harlowe’s Overland 
Riders in the Yellowstone 
National Park, etc., etc. 


Illustrated 


PHILADELPHIA 

HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY 


Copyrighted, 1923, by 
Howard E. Altemus 



APR 21 1923 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Chapter I —An Unlucky Shot. 11 

Emma Dean threatens to get “peevish.” Stacy and 
Hippy go out in search of game, and meet with an 
adventure. The hunters are stalked by mysterious 
strangers. “ It’s a deer! ” Mighty hunters make a 
disheartening discovery. 

Chapter H — A Double Disaster. .„ 18 

“You poor fish! You’ve killed a cow.” The guide 
agrees that Stacy Brown is “ a daid shot.” The 
owner of the dead cow suddenly appears in the Over¬ 
land camp. Jim Oakley makes a claim. San Antone 
shoots their caller. 

Chapter III — Beset by Mysteries .. 26 

“ Tonyl You are the suddenest person I ever knew,” 
rebukes Emma. A mountaineer near death. A dear 
deer. Overlanders gain the Indian country. Strange 
tales told of the Hills. Stacy discovers the Man in 
Black. A warning of Indian spies drops into camp 
from the air. 

Chapter IV — The Voice in the Shadows. 37 

“ Down, everybody! ” San Antone admits that he 
winged an Indian. A mysterious voice comes to the 
campers from the-darkness. Stacy sees an aspen tree 
shake for the first time. Near the scene of an Indian 
massacre. Lieutenant Wingate and Stacy meet with 
an adventure in an Indian village. 

5 






6 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Chapter V — Missing in the Hills. 50 

Overlanders go to the rescue of a “ squaw-buck.” The 
fat boy experiences a new thought. San Antone hears 
an amazing story. “You-all air shore in fer trouble 
now.” Miss Dean sees the Man in Black. Grace 
and Elfreda are missing. A shot and a yell. 

Chapter VI — “ I’m Goin’ to Kill a Man ! ” . . . . 59 

Overland men search for the missing girls. The trail 
that was found and lost. San Antone utters fore¬ 
bodings. Evidences of a struggle are found. “ The 
Indians took ’em away! ” announces the guide. A 
wild ride through the night. 

Chapter VII — A Night of Thrills.66 

What happened to Grace and Elfreda. A squaw 
utters a threat to kill. Captives take a grilling ride. 

The voice of a white man. Imprisoned in an old 
smelter. Screams that caused shivers. A shot and a 
wild dash for freedom. 

Chapter Vni — Where the Trail Led. 77 

Overland searchers fail. Following the trail of the 
Nomads of the Hills. The guide accuses the Indian 
chief. One minute to tell the truth 1 Chief Wild Tree 
gets a rap on the head. Grace and Elfreda again find 
themselves in the hands of the Indians. San Antone 
makes a dramatic entrance. 

Chapter IX — Red Wolf Gives Warning .94 

“ Stop! Oh, stop! You’ve killed him! ” The return 
to camp. A visit from the “ squaw-buck.” The sign 
of peace. The Indian bows down before Lieutenant 
Wingate. A new name for the Overland Rider. Red 
Wolf appears to turn into a white man. 





CONTENTS 


7 


PAGE 

Chapter X — On the Trail op the “ Do-Do ” .... 106 
The Man in Black awakens in the Overland Camp. 

A geologist in search of the savage “ Ippy Do-Do.” 
Professor Black gives warning of perils in the Hills. 

An odd farewell. “ I’m goin’ to wing thet bird! ” 
threatens San Antone. 


Chapter XI — “Buffalo Face Him Come!” .112 

Outwitted by the Man in Black. In the Deadwood 
gulches. Stacy has no use for tin. How to identify 
an Indian fire. Hed Wolf makes an unexpected 
appearance with a stolen rifle. Overlanders are warned 
that Buffalo Face is on his way to them. 

Chapter XII — A Red Man’s Gratitude .119 

The Indian chief wants “ Big Medicine.” Hunting- 
braves means trouble for someone. Why Emma dis¬ 
likes the Hills. The strategy of Red Wolf. The warn¬ 
ing found at the spring. “ Keep your guns loaded 
and your feet warm.” The smoke-signals of Sundance 
Mountain. 

Chapter XIII — Stacy “ Spills the Beans ” .... 131 
A long ride through the fragrant night. Red Wolf 
appears and adds to the mysterious warning. Over¬ 
landers head for the Indian Agency. A call at the 
Elk Horn Ranch. The real owner of Stacy’s cow de¬ 
mands payment for her death. 

Chapter XIV — The Gathering of the Braves .139 

The Riders arrive at the Indian Agency. A scene to 
be remembered. Hippy Wingate doctors a sick cow 
for a squaw. Stacy declines to hold the animal’s head. 
Emma Dean confuses the fat boy. San Antone feels 
u cut up.” 





8 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Chapter XV — Stacy Charms 11 Moon Face ” . . . . 150 
Indians gather for the council and the dance. Squaws 
overwhelm Big Medicine with sick animals. “ Buffalo 
Face is here I ” The fat boy in a panic. “ How you 
make so big like bear? ” -cooes the Indian maiden. 
Stacy arouses the Indians. “ Look out for his knife I ” 
cries Emma. 

Chapter XVI — Around the Council Fire.160 

San Antone shoots from the hip. “Now you have 
done it! ” Overland Riders attend the Indian Council. 

The war priest calls the meeting to order. The pipe 
of peace. Stacy expresses his opinion out loud. A 
sensation in the making. 

Chapter XVII — Hippy Resents an Insult.168 

Chief Chetwoot voices the red man’s complaint. 
Overlanders are ordered to leave the medicine lodge. 
Lieutenant Wingate’s silence confirms the Indian’s sus¬ 
picion. Buffalo Face makes a sudden attack. A big 
chief comes to grief. 

Chapter XVIII — “Big Medicine! Bio Warrior!” ... 177 
Hippy acts in self-defense. Insult added to injury. 

“ A knife! A knife l ” Chief Buffalo breaks the 
pledge of peace. Overlanders refuse to incriminate 
Red Wolf. Stacy begs the Indian Agent to lock up 
Moon Face. A screech and a sudden commotion 
awaken the Overlanders. 

Chapter XIX — The Thrust That Failed.189 

The tragedy in Lieutenant Wingate’s tent. “ Get 
help! ” Indians menace the Overland camp. “ The 
White Medicine is bad medicine! ” San Antone takes 
a hand. Strange doings on the Indian reservation. 

The Acting Agent makes a startling announcement. 





CONTENTS 


9 


PAGE 

Chapter XX — The Dance in the Omaha House. . . 198 
Miss Briggs gains some information. Red Wolf almost 
makes a confession. The feast of the fatted dog. 
Stacy Brown loses his appetite. The fat boy joins in 
the savage dance. Moon Face makes a mysterious 
visit to the Overland camp. 

Chapter XXI — Peril Faces the Overlanders .214 

Moon Face gives warning. The Overland Riders take 
a hurried departure. Signal smokes are sighted. 

“ Make a sound and I’ll kill ye! ” warns a voice in 
Lieutenant Wingate’s ear. 

Chapter XXII — Held Up in the Hills .221 

White men get the drop on the Overland Riders. 

San Antone meets his match. Emma asserts her right 
to have the last word. “ You’ll be shot afore ye git 
ten paces! ” Mystery in the miner’s cabin. 

Chapter XXIII — The Red Man’s Revenge. ...... 230 

A letter from a mysterious friend causes another 
hurried departure. In a deserted city. Stacy appoints 
himself chief of police. The mystery of the haunted 
mill. Red Wolf brings warning of approaching trouble. 

Chapter XXIV — The Flaming Arrow .241 

The Overlanders prepare for defense. Fire set from 
the air. The Riders are attacked by Indians. Red 
Wolf makes the supreme sacrifice. Professor Black 
finds the “Ippy Do-Do.” 






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GRACE HARLOWE’S OVER¬ 
LAND RIDERS IN THE 
BLACK HILLS 


CHAPTER I 

AN UNLUCKY SHOT 

44 IV 4T B* BENNETT, don’t you think it 
\/| is about time that our men folks 
-L ▼ A went out and rustled some game? ” 
questioned Grace Harlowe, addressing the Over¬ 
land Riders’ guide. 

“ I shore do, Mrs. Gray,” drawled the guide. 
“ There’s plenty of it ’round heah, too; but please 
jest drop the ‘ Mister.’ I’m San Antone in these 
parts, an’ I ain’t used to hevin’ a handle tucked 
onto my name. Somehow thet name Bennett 
don’t seem to fit me. Nobody’s called me thet 
since I was a youngster.” 

“ San Antone,” murmured Emma Dean. 
“ That surely is a beautiful name. It is so musi¬ 
cal, and I like it. Don’t you think it is fine, 
San Antone? ” 


11 



12 


GRACE HARLOWE 


The guide flushed and hitched his revolver belt. 

“I — I reckon it is, Miss — leastwise, it is the 
way you-all say it,” he mumbled blushingly, 
avoiding the teasing eyes of the little Overland 
girl. 

The Overlanders laughed heartily at the guide’s 
evident embarrassment. 

“ Don’t tease Mr. — San Antone,” admonished 
Elfreda Briggs. “ Later on, after he gets to know 
you, perhaps he won’t mind it.” 

“ Won’t mind it? ” demanded Emma, elevating 
her freckled nose. “ Of course he will. He will 
like it even more. If he doesn’t I shall be real 
peeved. I promise you that the farther we go 
on this journey the more he will like to be teased. 
Isn’t that right, Tony? ” 

The Overlanders groaned, and the guide, too 
confused to reply, grinned sheepishly. 

“ You had better,” warned Emma, placing a 
warning finger on the guide’s arm and gazing up 
mischievously into his disturbed eyes. 

Grace turned a laughing face to her husband. 

“ Emma hasn’t reformed since our last season’s 
journey to the Yellowstone, has she, Tom? ” 
queried Grace. 

“ You didn’t expect her to change, did you? ” 
answered Tom with a shake of the head. 

“ I would have you good people know that I 
am doing my best to follow the example set for 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


13 


me by my companions," retorted Emma with 
spirit. 

“That's right, Emma," agreed Stacy Brown, 
known more familiarly to his companions as 
Chunky, the fat boy. “ You devote your teasing 
attentions to San Antonio. He is so easy he 
doesn't dare say his soul is his own, and doesn't 
dare to talk back to you the way I do. Perhaps 
I shall have some peace on this trip, for which 
much thanks." 

“ Come, Stacy! Let's get going and see if we 
can rustle some game for this company," urged 
Lieutenant Hippy Wingate. “ We are the official 
hunters for the Overland Riders on this journey 
through the Hills." 

“Yes. The mightiest hunters of the Hills," 
agreed Stacy, picking up his rifle and examining 
it to make certain that the magazine was full. 
“ What shall it be, folks, deer, bear or mountain 
lion? Name your favorite meat and we will see 
that you have it." 

Nora Wingate called to her husband to take 
good care of Stacy and see that he did not get 
into trouble, and the two hunters waved their 
hands in farewell as they strode from camp. 

Following the departure of the hunters, the 
rest of the Overland party began setting their 
camp to rights. It was the early afternoon of 
their second day in the saddle, now on their regu- 


H 


GRACE HARLOWE 


lar summer’s outing, and with Beale Bennett, 
better known as “San Antone,” as their guide, 
they had begun their journey into the historic 
Black Hills of South Dakota. 

The Hills had been selected for the Overland 
Riders’ summer journey because they promised 
a fertile field for adventure. Since their service 
in the World War they had taken their vacations 
in the saddle, meeting with many stirring experi¬ 
ences, first in riding the Old Apache Trail, then 
on the Great American Desert, in the Sierras, 
among the fighting Kentucky mountaineers, and 
on many a perilous western trail. They were 
now on their way to answer to the call of the 
Hills, where the savage Sioux had made bloody 
history. There was romance, there were adven¬ 
ture and thrilling experiences awaiting them 
there, as the guide whom they had engaged at 
Minnekahta Springs had promised them that 
there would be. 

In the guide the Overlanders felt that they had 
a real find. San Antone, though a Texan by 
birth, knew the country and its ways, and his 
slow, easy, cool speech both pleased and inspired 
confidence. His voice with its quaint southern 
drawl was almost womanly in its gentleness, but 
there was that in the eyes now and again, a glint, 
a flash that faded as instantaneously as it came, 
that warned the observant that the man’s 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


15 


gentle exterior was a mask for the steel that lay 
beneath. Emma Dean characterized the glint as 
San Antone’s “ keep-off-the-grass ” sign. 

Emma, finding that her mischievous teasing 
embarrassed the guide, missed no favorable op¬ 
portunity for chaffing him, and while they were 
putting the camp in order she kept up a continu¬ 
ous chatter, mostly directed at San Antone. 

While all this was taking place, Lieutenant 
Wingate and Stacy Brown were cautiously creep¬ 
ing along a granite dike in the Hills a short dis¬ 
tance from camp, and they might have been 
Indian scouts for all the disturbance they created. 
Above them the rocks towered high on one side, 
on the other a series of low, rugged peaks, typi¬ 
cal Black Hills mountain scenery, stretched out 
for fully two miles. Both men were hatless. 

“See anything, Uncle Hip? ” questioned Stacy 
in a low tone. 

“ No. Keep quiet.” 

“ I can’t. I’ve kept still so long that I’ve 
simply got to say something or I’ll blow up.” 

Lieutenant Wingate shrugged his shoulders in 
disapproval, and half turned his head to see what 
his companion was about. 

“Chunky, have you the safety lock on your 
gun? ” he demanded. 

“No, of course not. I am ready to shoot,” 
answered the fat boy. 


16 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“Then be good enough to keep that gun 
pointed in some other direction than towards me. 
First thing you know you will be sending a bul¬ 
let through me. Furthermore, you will scare away 
every deer on the range. I am certain that I 
caught a glimpse of a black-tail over yonder a 
few moments ago.” 

“ Then why didn’t you shoot? ” demanded 
Stacy. 

“ Too quick for me/’ answered Hippy in a 
whisper. “ I don’t believe he saw us, but he may 
have caught our scent. Now keep very quiet. 
Surely you don’t wish to return to camp without 
any game and let the girls have a laugh at our 
expense, do you?” 

“ I don’t care how much they laugh, but I 
guess, now that I have had my say, I can keep 
quiet for a little while.” 

They had continued on for nearly half an hour 
longer without sighting further game, when a 
smothered exclamation from his companion 
caused Hippy to glance back quickly. At that 
instant Stacy fired, the reverberating crashes of 
the report echoing from peak to peak for several 
seconds. 

“ I got him! I got him! ” yelled Chunky, leap¬ 
ing to his feet. 

“ What is it? ” 

“ It’s a deer! I reckon the folks won’t have the 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


17 


laugh on us. We know how to get game, eh? 
What? ” Stacy started clambering up the side of 
the mountain to the point in a heavy growth of 
foliage where he had seen and shot the deer. 

About this time two men, raising their heads 
from behind the rocks on the opposite side of the 
granite dike, cautiously observed the Overlanders 
hurriedly running towards Stacy’s kill. The same 
two men had been stalking the Overlanders for a 
full half hour, but Hippy and Stacy had been too 
absorbed in their quest for game to look for mere 
humans. 

“There he is!” shouted Stacy, reaching the 
scene first. “ I told you — ” The fat boy’s voice 
trailed off into a gurgle, ending in a gasp. 

“What’s this?” demanded Lieutenant Win¬ 
gate. 

“I — I — I thought it was a deer.” 

Before their amazed eyes lay a cow. Stacy’s 
shot had killed her. 


8 - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


18 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER II 

A DOUBLE DISASTER 

4 4 JT OU poor fish! You have killed a cow,” 
g raged Hippy. “ Don’t you know the 
difference between a cow and a deer? ” 

“ Of — of course I — I do, but — ” 

“ Well? But what? ” 

“ All I could see was her back, which looked 
brown and sleek just like a deer,” protested Stacy. 
“ You would have shot, too, under those circum¬ 
stances. What business had that cow fooling 
around here and trying to look like a deer, 
anyway? ” 

“ Someone owns this animal, Stacy, and when 
he finds out who did the killing he will request us 
to settle. I reckon you will have to pay up.” 

“1 reckon I won’t,” objected the fat boy 
stubbornly. 

“Come! We will go back to camp. I have 
had enough of hunting with you until you learn 
to distinguish a deer from a cow,” announced 
Hippy after examining the brand on the animal’s 
hip. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


19 


“ Aren't you going to take the critter with us? ” 

“ I am not/' answered Lieutenant Wingate. 
“The shooting was accidental. Taking the cow 
to camp would be appropriating what doesn't be¬ 
long to us." 

The two men turned campward, Stacy grum¬ 
bling, Hippy Wingate grinning and scowling in 
turn, still observed by the pair that had been a 
witness to the shooting. Half an hour later 
Hippy and Stacy walked into camp, the fat boy 
trailing along behind, neither one particularly 
happy over the prospect before them. 

The two men who had been stalking the Over¬ 
landers followed them nearly to the camp before 
finally turning back into the Hills. 

“ I say, where is the game? " called Tom Gray. 

“ In the Hills," answered Stacy sourly. 

“We heard a shot fired, and as there was no 
second shot we took for granted that the first 
shot was a hit," said Grace Harlowe. “ So you 
did not kill anything? " 

“ I didn't. Stacy did," replied Lieutenant Win¬ 
gate. 

“ What did you get, little boy? " questioned 
Emma Dean sweetly. 

“ He shot and killed a cow, that's all," grumbled 
Hippy. “ He thought it was a deer. Can you 
beat it? " 

“ I could do no worse than that myself," in- 


20 


GRACE HARLOWE 


terjected Emma; then the Overland Riders burst 
out laughing. 

“ Thet shore was goin’ some,” averred the 
guide, grinning broadly. “ Whar is the critter? ” 

Hippy told him and San Antone said he would 
have a look at the animal before they left that 
camp. 

“ I suppose this means that we shall have to 
pay the owner of the cow, does it not? ” 
questioned Miss Briggs. 

“Yes, of course, provided we can find the 
owner,” agreed Grace. 

“ Did you-all get the brand on the critter? ” 
questioned San Antone in an indifferent drawl. 

“Yes. ‘E. K.’ in a circle,” replied Hippy. 

“ Wal, I don’t reckon as I know thet brand. 
The daid cow probably has wandered a long way 
from home an’ it ain’t likely thet we’ll ever hear 
from her owner.” 

“ Tony, don’t you think our Stacy is a fine 
shot? ” teased Emma. 

“A daid shot,” nodded the guide soberly, 
whereupon the Overlanders teased and chaffed 
and nagged the fat boy until Stacy, red of face 
and angry, sought refuge in his tent, where he 
sulked for more than an hour, listening atten¬ 
tively to what was being said about him by his 
companions. 

After some sober discussion it was decided that 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


21 


inquiries should be made as to the owners of the 
“E. K.” brand and every effort made to find 
them and pay for the killing of the cow. That 
was all that the Overlanders could think of doing 
in the matter. 

“We ought to have some meat to cure and 
take along with us,” reminded Tom. “ I think 
I will go out myself and see what I can do.” 

The guide suggested that they wait until the 
next day, when, he said, they would be moving 
in a direction where game was certain to be more 
plentiful. The party was still discussing the food 
question when a hail interrupted them. 

“ Hulloa the camp! ” shouted a voice. 

“ Come in,” called Hippy and Tom in chorus. 

A man, armed with a rifle, who presented the 
appearance of a typical mountaineer, entered the 
camp. 

“ How’dy, folks,” he greeted, leaning his rifle 
against a rock. “ Who be ye? My name’s 
Swinton.” 

“We are known as the Overland Riders, now 
riding the Black Hills for pleasure,” replied Tom 
Gray. “ Won’t you sit down? ” 

“Don’t reckon as I kin. I’m lookin’ fer a 
strayed cow that got away from my place over 
on Black Creek. I follered the critter’s trail till 
a piece back, then lost it, and I reckoned that 
mebby you folks had seen her ’bout here.” 


22 


GRACE HARLOWE 


The Overlanders exchanged significant 
glances. 

“ Describe the animal, please,” requested Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate. 

“ Brown critter, sleek and slim and can run 
like a deer.” 

“ Did she hev a brand? ” drawled San Antone. 

“ Yes. ‘ E. K. Circle ’ brand. I got her in a 
round-up sale and took her to my place, but she 
run away and was headed back to her ranch. 
That’s the worst of the critters. They’re crazy 
to git back home.” 

“ Mr. Swinton, I think we can tell you about 
your cow,” spoke up Hippy. “ One of our party 
shot a cow this afternoon, thinking it was a deer. 
From your description I think it must have been 
the animal for which you are in search. Should 
it prove to be the same animal we, of course, 
will pay you, and from your description I don’t 
think there is any doubt about her being your 
property. What is she worth? ” 

“ Wal, the critter cost me thirty dollar, and 
I ought ter have ten bucks more for my trouble,” 
answered the man. 

“ I’ll pay it,” decided Hippy. 

The money was counted out to the caller, who 
thanked the Overlanders, and, after assuring 
them that there were no hard feelings on his 
part, took his leave. During all this Stacy 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


2 a 


Brown remained in his tent from which he peered 
large-eyed, but, after the departure of the visitor, 
he came out. 

“Aren't you going to reimburse your Uncle 
Hip?" questioned Emma sweetly. 

“ I am not. I didn't tell him to pay for the 
cow, did I?" retorted Stacy. “I — " 

“ Someone is coming," warned Grace. 

A horseman, booted and spurred, at this 
juncture trotted into the camp, and halting, an¬ 
grily surveyed the Overland outfit. After a mo¬ 
ment of keen scrutiny, he got down, casting the 
bridle-rein over the pommel of his saddle. 

“ Wal, what do you-all reckon you-all want? " 
drawled San Antone. 

“ You, feller," he growled, addressing Hippy. 
“ You shot a critter back yonder a piece. What 
about it? " 

“You are mistaken. I did not shoot any 
* critter,' " objected Lieutenant Wingate. 

“ Don't he to me! I seen you do it." 

“Stranger! Did I heah you-all say Hie’?" 
demanded the cool voice of San Antone. “ Did 
I heah you-all say thet? " The guide was smiling 
and his voice held a gentle, purring note. 

“ I said I seen him do it, and I want pay fer 
that critter right quick or I’ll have the law on 
ye." 

“ Please keep out of this, Guide," ordered Tom 


24 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Gray. “Do you own the animal you speak 
of? ” 

“Naw, I don’t. I’m the assistant foreman of 
the E. K. Ranch and I been sent out to look for a 
stray cow. I was makin’ Squaw Peak on the 
other side of the gulch back yonder when I seen 
two fellers creepin’ along the dike, and then I seen 
one of ’em shoot. I seen ’em go ’way, so I went 
over and found what they’d shot. It was the 
critter I was out lookin’ for. That’s all there is 
to it, except the settlin’, fer you was one of them 
fellers.” 

“ What’s your name, Stranger? ” asked the 
guide gently. 

“ Jim Oakley, and I’m the assistant foreman of 
the Elkhorn Ranch.” 

“ How long hev you-all been thet? ” persisted 
San Antone. 

“ ’Bout a year, if you got to know.” 

“ Stranger, you-all git out o’ heah hot foot. 
Don’t want to see nothin’ but yer back an’ only 
’bout a minute of thet,” answered San Antone in 
his easy, cool speech. 

“ I’ll go when I git good and ready,” blazed the 
man. 

“ You-all will go now, even if I hev to hawg-tie 
you an’ pack you-all out of heah on a hoss.” 

“ Tony, Tony! Don’t forget yourself,” begged 
Emma Dean. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


25 


“ I don’t believe thet critter belongs to your 
outfit at all,” continued the guide, giving no heed 
to Emma’s words. “ Air you goin’ to mosey out 
of heah? ” 

“ I’m goin’ when I git my pay fer the cow an’ 
not a minute before, an’ ye can’t bluff me out 
neither.” 

“You-all air a cheap crook, thet’s what you- 
all are. And that ain’t all. You ain’t the assist¬ 
ant foreman of the Elkhom; you-all ain’t Jim 
Oakley, and you ain’t nothin’ but what I said. 
Get out of heah a-jumpin’ ! You’re a liar an’ 
you-all know it! ” finished the guide. 

The stranger’s hand flew to his holster, but did 
not reach it. San Antone’s hand reached his 
weapon first. A flash and a sharp report, as the 
guide drew and fired from the hip, were followed 
by a yell from “ Jim Oakley.” San Antone’s bul¬ 
let had gone through the man’s hand as he reached 
.for his own revolver. 


26 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER III 

BESET BY MYSTERIES 

S O suddenly had the shooting occurred that 
the Overlanders could scarcely credit what 
their eyes had barely seen. What they did 
see clearly, however, was the expression of ferocity 
on the face of San Antonio, and the hand that 
was nervously fingering the revolver that he still 
held at his side. 

The stranger was holding his injured hand, rag¬ 
ing and threatening, when Emma laid a hand on 
the guide’s revolver. 

“ Put it back, Tony! ” she commanded. “ My 
gracious, but you are the suddenest person I ever 
knew. Put your gun back, I say.” 

San Antone hesitated, then, guided by the hand 
of the little Overland Rider, slowly jammed his 
weapon into its holster. 

“ I can get it if I need it,” he muttered, his 
face assuming a grin that had nothing of merri¬ 
ment in it, his eyes never leaving the face of the 
man he had shot. 

“Jim Oakley, v whose revolver had dropped 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


27 


from his hand, was rocking back and forth and 
each second edging closer to the weapon that lay 
on the ground in plain sight of all. All at once 
he made a grab for it with his left hand. 

San Antone’s hand flashed to his holster. At 
the same instant Emma fastened a firm grip on 
his wrist. 

“ Stop, I say! ” she commanded. 

San Antone hesitated for the barest fraction of 
a second, then permitted his hand to drop to his 
side. It might have been otherwise had it not 
been for Elfreda Briggs who stood near the 
stranger during the entire affair. Elfreda saw 
what the wounded mountaineer was up to, and at 
the moment when the man made his grab for the 
weapon she sprang forward and kicked it beyond 
his reach. Elfreda then snatched up the weapon 
and ejected all the cartridges from it, after which 
she threw the revolver on the ground. 

“ Oakley,” enraged and mad with pain, aimed a 
vicious kick at her. That kick, had it landed, 
would have sealed his death warrant, for San 
Antone this time jerked his own weapon clear of 
its holster, r despite Emma’s efforts to prevent his 
doing so. 

“That will do, Bennett! ” commanded Hippy, 
springing between the two men, facing San An¬ 
tone. “ We have had quite enough shooting for 
one day. I can’t shoot with you, but I sure can 


28 


GRACE HARLOWE 


wallop you with my fists, and I'll do it, too, if 
you don’t behave yourself.” 

“I nevah could fight,” drawled the guide, re¬ 
turning his revolver to its receptacle, “but if 
you-all don’t send thet houn’ away mebby I can’t 
hold myself,” he added. 

“ Get out of here! ” ordered Tom Gray to the 
stranger. “ You know what you will get if you 
don’t go.” 

“ Wait! ” begged Grace. “ The man may need 
attention.” 

“Let me dress the wound in your hand,” 
offered Elfreda. 

“ Don’t you touch me. I’ll have the law on 
you, every one of you, and I’ll see to it that the 
whole bunch gits run out of these Hills. Do I 
git pay fer that cow? ” 

“ Mister Man. The only thing you will c get ’ 
is get out,” warned Tom Gray sternly. “ On your 
way! ” 

“ Oakley ” flung himself into his saddle and 
rode away as fast as his mount would carry him. 

“ Has that violent stranger gone? ” called Stacy 
Brown from his tent. 

“ Yes, little boy. You can come out now with 
perfect safety,” answered Emma. 

“ Mr. Bennett, I hope you will not lose your 
temper again while you are with this outfit,” re¬ 
buked Tom Gray. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


29 


" Tom, he had to shoot or that fellow would 
have killed him,” defended Grace. “Emma, I 
am proud of you. You were the only member of 
this party to keep her head. I suggest that we 
have dinner now. Mr. Bennett, if you will build 
the fire I will cook the evening meal. The rest 
of the outfit have done their full duty, including 
Stacy, who shot and killed a ‘ deer/ ” added Grace 
laughingly. 

“ A dear deer, I call it,” interposed Emma Dean. 
“ We have paid for it once and came near paying 
for it a second time, which we surely should have 
done had not Tony discovered that the man was 
an impostor. Tony, how did you suspect that 
that fellow wasn’t Oakley? ” 

“ ’Cause I’ve seen Jim Oakley. We’ll stop in 
and tell Jim ’bout the cayuse that tried to collect 
from us, when we get up his way. I shore ought 
to hev killed the critter,” purred the guide. 

“ Mr. Bennett, were you always this way? ” 
wondered Nora Wingate. 

San Antone, now busily engaged in laying the 
cooking fire, made no reply, and curiosity, not un¬ 
mixed with admiration, was plainly to be seen in 
the eyes of the Overland Riders as they regarded 
the guide. After dinner they discussed their com¬ 
ing journey, then turned in for the night, won¬ 
dering over the gentleness and the savagery of the 
man who was to guide them through the Hills. 


30 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Next morning the party broke camp early and 
rode out through an arroyo through which a small 
stream of water flowed, enclosed between high 
rugged palisades, surmounted by tall pines. After 
proceeding a few miles through the arroyo the 
rocky walls on either side began to broaden and 
rise, then gradually flattened out until the party 
found themselves on a thickly wooded plateau, 
strangely wild and lonely. 

“ This air Indian country,” San Antone in¬ 
formed his charges. “ I wonder thet we ain’t seen 
any of the redskins before this. Most always you 
can see their smoke. I reckon they must be up 
to somethin’ at the reservation.” 

“ Indians? ” exclaimed Emma apprehensively. 
“ Are there Indians here? ” 

“Yes. Sioux. The Agency is at Pine Ridge, 
whar we’re goin’ to stop. Mebby we’ll find some¬ 
thin’ doin’ there. Either the Indians don’t want 
us to see ’em or they’ve gone to the Agency for 
some doin’s.” 

“ But surely the Sioux are no longer savage,” 
protested Nora. 

“ There’s good Indians an’ bad Indians. Some 
of them is good farmers, and others air — wal, 
jest Sioux, especially since the moonshiners come 
up into this heah country.” 

“ Moonshiners? That sounds like Kentucky,” 
smiled Grace. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


31 


“ Plenty of ’em, an’ the revenue officers don’t 
ketch many of ’em either. I reckon the Indians 
is to blame fer that.” 

As the Overlanders progressed, flocks of blue¬ 
birds, alarmed at the approach of strangers, rose 
with a loud whir, vanishing in the velvet tops of 
the tall pines. Ahead, a series of granite peaks 
reared high in the air. The largest of these the 
guide explained was known as “ Calamity Jane.” 

“ Thar’s another Calamity Jane, a real one, in 
these Hills,” he added. “ They say she’s a wild 
creature an’ thet now an’ then she goes to Dead- 
wood with a little bag of gold dust that she gets, 
nobody knows whar. She goes back into the Hills 
then an’ mebby ain’t seen again fer months.” 

“ I hope she doesn’t do any calamity howling 
about our outfit,” declared Stacy. 

“You-all won’t see her. We’ll be get tin’ on 
now to the place whar we’re goin’ to camp.” 

Shortly after three o’clock that afternoon the 
Overlanders rode out on a vast plain of rugged 
granite dikes, that, under certain lights, resembled 
a city of spires. For a few moments after the ar¬ 
rival of the party the sun shone down brilliantly 
on these spires set in frames of vivid green; then 
the clouds blotted out the unusual scene and the 
Overland Riders began pitching camp. Stacy, 
however, had promptly wandered away to avoid 
having to work, and the afternoon being warm, 


32 


GRACE HARLOWE 


he finally sat down with his back against a rock 
and was soon fast asleep. 

Stacy awakened late in the afternoon with a 
start. Twilight was almost upon him, but it was 
yet light enough to enable him quite clearly to 
distinguish objects some distance away. He sud¬ 
denly realized what it was that had awakened 
him. A distant tapping sound was now borne to 
his ears, as if someone was hammering on a rock. 

The Overland boy’s eyes widened. Some little 
distance from him he discovered a man wielding a 
hammer against a rock, a huge slab of granite that 
reared itself from the ground some twenty feet 
into the air, and he wondered if the stranger were 
trying to break down the granite slab and why. 

Dressed entirely in black with a long Prince Al¬ 
bert coat reaching below the knees, a roofless straw 
hat on his head, and wearing huge rimmed dark 
spectacles, the stranger presented an unusual and 
somewhat ludicrous appearance. The boy watched 
wonderingly for some moments, then, getting up 
and taking a step forward, he shouted, “Hulloa 
there! ” At that instant Stacy stubbed his toe 
and measured his length on the ground. 

On his feet again in an instant, the fat boy 
stood blinking, gazing at the spot where the man 
in black had been standing. The stranger had 
disappeared and with his disappearance the tap¬ 
ping had ceased. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


33 


“ Oh, wow! ” exclaimed the fat boy starting at 
a run for the camp. “ Maybe I have seen a 
ghost.” Twilight had settled over the hills by the 
time he dashed into camp. 

“Where have you been, young man?” de¬ 
manded Emma severely. 

“ Out — out yonder, and I saw, I saw a man 
and — I want my dinner! ” 

“ Wefinished dinner anhour ago,”replied Emma. 

“ You are a fine lot of friends, you are! ” 

“ Stacy, there is still coffee in the pot, but it 
must be cold by now. We waited for you so long 
that we had to eat a nearly cold dinner,” Grace 
informed him. “ What was it that you said about 
seeing a man? ” 

“ Oh, nothing much,” mumbled the boy, fuss¬ 
ing about looking for something to eat. He found 
some hard biscuit, then, stirring the dying cook- 
fire until it sent up a great smudge, he banged 
the coffee pot down in the middle of it, where 
the pot was soon blackened with soot. Stacy 
then arranged the biscuit in a row on his blanket 
and eyed them ruefully, all observed with keen 
interest by the other Overlanders. 

“ You aren't much of a dinner, but I am going 
to eat you just for spite,” soliloquized the fat 
boy, addressing the biscuit. 

The coffee pot now began to steam, whereupon 
the boy poured out a cupful and tasted of it. 

3 — Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


34 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ This coffee tastes like a smokehouse. Try it 
and see if it doesn’t, Emma” 

“ Never having eaten a smokehouse, I fear my 
decision would be of no use to you. Perhaps Mr. 
Bennett might assist you. Tony, did you ever 
eat a smokehouse? ” asked Emma without the 
suspicion of a smile on her face. 

“ I nevah did, Miss Dean,” answered the guide 
with equal gravity, whereupon the Overlanders 
gave way to their merriment. 

Stacy hied a biscuit at a squirrel that whisked 
down a near-by tree trunk, poured the coffee on 
the ground and hunched himself down in a sulk 
until Nora laughingly came to the rescue. 

“ Be a nice boy and I will fry you some bacon 
and make fresh coffee,” she promised. 

“ Bacon for a child! ” cried Emma in mock hor¬ 
ror. “ Are you crazy? ” 

“ What we wish to know is who the man is that 
Stacy saw,” reminded Tom Gray. 

“ How do I know? I never saw him before,” 
answered the fat boy, then briefly gave them a 
description of the Man in Black. 

The Overlanders turned inquiringly to San 
Antone, but the guide shook his head to indicate 
that he had no idea who the stranger might be. 

“ There’s some queer ones floatin’ ’bout these 
heah parts,” he observed. “ But I reckon we’d 
bettah find out ’bout thet critter. What do you- 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


35 


all reckon thet feller was doin’ ? ” he added, ad¬ 
dressing Stacy Brown. 

Stacy shook his head and helped himself to the 
bacon that Nora was frying. San Antone said he 
would see if he could pick up the fellow’s trail in 
the morning. The words had barely passed his 
lips when something thudded lightly to the ground 
close to the fire. It startled the Overland Riders, 
and Nora started to pick up the object that had 
fallen almost at her feet. 

“Wait!” commanded Grace in a low, sharp 
tone. “ It is a stone with a piece of paper tied 
to it.” 

San Antone hitched his belt nervously. 

“ Do you-all reckon I’d bettah go out and see 
who fired thet stone at us? ” he questioned. 

“ No. Wait, but keep your ears open. I will 
get the stone as soon as I think it prudent to do so. 
Talk and laugh. Someone may be watching,” 
warned Grace. A few moments later she got up 
and casually strolled over to the fire. “ Drop 
the frying pan,” she whispered to Nora. 

After an instant’s hesitation Nora did, and an 
instant wail from the fat boy followed. Grace 
quickly picked up the pan and the stone at the 
same time, handing the pan to her companion, 
after which she returned to her former position 
and sat down. The stone now lay in her hat and 
there she removed the paper cover, the while 


36 


GRACE HARLOWE 


chatting with Elfreda Briggs. The paper con¬ 
tained a message and Grace barely escaped utter¬ 
ing an exclamation as she read it. 

“ What is it? ” whispered Elfreda Briggs. 

“ A warning. Listen, folks, but be cautious. 
Here is something that I do not understand at 
all.” Grace, in a low tone, then read the message 
that lay concealed in her hat: 

“ ‘ Your party has been under observation ever 
since you came into the Hills. First, two white 
men — Indians next. Two Indians are at this 
moment watching you from behind the granite 
rock due east of your camp. Be cautious, — be 
on the alert. I don’t know what their game is, 
but I suspect/ ” finished Grace. No name was 
signed to the message, which, probably having 
been written in the dark, was a scrawl. 

“ I reckon I’ll get out of heah an’ take a walk,” 
drawled San Antone. 

“Stay where you are, please!” commanded 
Tom Gray, stirring the fire and throwing on fresh 
fuel. 

“ Indians! ” suddenly yelled Stacy Brown 
shrilly, leaping to his feet, overturning the coffee 
pot and scattering what was left of his bacon. 

For an instant not a word was spoken, then the 
crash of San Antone’s revolver woke the echoes, 
followed by a screech from the vicinity of the 
granite rock. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


37 


CHAPTER IV 

THE VOICE IN THE SHADOWS 

6C TT^^OWN, everybody! ” commanded Tom 
§ Gray, fully expecting a return shot 
*■—^ in answer to the one fired by San 
Antone, a shot that evidently found a human 
mark. 

Hippy kicked the campfire to pieces, scattering 
the embers, over which he threw a blanket and 
stamped on it. The blanket suffered, but the 
camp was plunged into instant darkness. 

“ San Antone, where are you? ” cried Emma. 

“Pm heah, Miss Dean,” drawled the guide. 
“You-all better keep down. They’s redskins 
heah.” 

“ I saw ’em first! ” announced Stacy with a 
note of boastfulness in his tone. “ I saw two of 
’em peeking over that rock that the fellow wrote 
to us about.” 

“ Be silent! ” commanded Hippy sternly. " Do 
you want to get a bullet through your head? If 
you do, keep on talking, and you will get your 
wish. Guide, why did you shoot? ” 


38 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I reckon I shoots first an’ talks ’bout it when 
the other feller can’t shoot back. I winged 
an Indian, thet’s all. I didn’t shoot to kill the 
critter. I don’t reckon there’s more’n two or 
three of ’em, but you folks better get your guns 
ready in case we hev any trouble. All you keep 
on this side ’cause if I heah a sound anywhere 
else I’ll shoot at it right smart,” drawled San An- 
tone. All this conversation was carried on in a 
low tone of voice, for no one knew what a loud 
word might draw down upon him. 

The Overland girls were whispering, and their 
whispers sounded loud in the tense silence of the 
camp. Following the screech, presumably the re¬ 
sult of the guide’s shot, not a movement nor a 
sound had been heard outside the camp. San 
Antone knew where his bullet had hit the victim, 
knew that it had raked the side of the copper¬ 
skinned face that showed momentarily in the 
light of the campfire, just above the granite rock 
that the mysterious writer had spoken of. The 
guide was too sure a shot to have any doubts as 
to where his bullet had caught the imprudent 
Indian. 

“ Uncle Hip, may I light a match? ” asked 
Stacy in a loud tone. “ I want to see what time 
it is.” 

Lieutenant Wingate laid a sudden and heavy 
hand on the collar of Stacy’s blouse. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


39 


“ It’s bedtime for you, young man,,” hissed 
Hippy. “ Turn in! If I hear another loud word 
from you I’ll thrash you right here, even if I 
am shot in doing it. Get into your tent.” 

“ Hippy, please control yourself. Remember, 
Stacy is a mere child. We are taught that 
children should not be punished in anger,” re¬ 
minded Emma. 

“ I’ll show you whether or not I’m a chi — ” 
Stacy did not finish his sentence for the very good 
reason that Lieutenant Wingate was propelling 
the young man towards his tent in a series of jerks 
and shakes that took all the speech out of him. 

Not a sound was heard from the rest of the 
party during this chastisement. The situation 
was too serious for levity, and every ear was 
strained to catch the slightest sound that might 
indicate further peril for the Overland party. 

For fully a quarter of an hour did the Over¬ 
landers remain flat on the ground, then there oc¬ 
curred an interruption that caused every Over¬ 
land nerve to jump painfully. The interruption 
was the sound of a human voice, deep, resonant 
and commanding, coming from somewhere among 
the trees at one side of the camp. 

“The Indians have departed! ” announced the 
voice. 

“ Who said that? ” demanded Tom Gray. 

“ I said, the Indians have gone,” repeated the 


40 


GRACE HARLOWE 


voice. “ They will trouble you no more to-night, 
but watch out and — ” 

“ Stranger, come out an’ show yourself. If you- 
all ain’t out after I count ten I’ll shoot/’ drawled 
San Antone. 

“ Don’t do it, San Antone. Your bullets can¬ 
not touch me,” answered the mysterious voice. 

“ Tony, you do just as he tells you to. That’s 
a nice boy,” urged Emma. 

“ As I was about to suggest, watch out,” re¬ 
sumed the mysterious voice. “ There are those 
in these Hills who are observing and who, for 
good reason, would be pleased to see the Overland 
Riders come to grief. Suspect everyone, and be¬ 
ware of the roving Sioux.” 

“ Who are you, sir? ” called Grace Harlowe. 

“ A man among men. I bid you good-night.” 

“ I’ll find thet feller,” growled the guide, spring¬ 
ing forward. 

“ Keep your gun in its holster,” commanded 
Lieutenant Wingate sternly. 

San Antone made no reply, but dashed out in 
search of the owner of the voice. The Over¬ 
landers heard him threshing about in the bushes, 
uttering threats in his drawling voice, to which 
there was no answer. After a fruitless search the 
guide returned to camp. 

"I’ll pick up thet critter’s trail an’ run him 
down to-morrow mornin’,” he threatened. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


41 


"How strange/’ cried Nora Wingate. "Who 
can that queer man be? ” 

" Why should we be concerned about that? He 
is a white man and plainly a friend/’ replied 
Miss Briggs. 

" Have they all gone? ” called Stacy from his 
tent. 

"Yes, child. Go to sleep,” soothed Emma. 
" Tony,” she added, turning to the guide. " You 
are a gentle soul, aren’t you? ” 

The Overlanders, now that the strain was re¬ 
laxed, laughed, and after consultation it was de¬ 
cided to build a fresh campfire. It was a small 
fire that they started, just sufficient to relieve the 
blackness of the night, and after it was well going, 
San Antone strolled out into the night, making 
several circuits of the camp in an ever-widening 
circle. He returned after half an hour’s scouting, 
stepping so quietly that his approach was un¬ 
heard by the Overland Riders. 

" I reckon you folks better turn in an’ get some 
rest,” he said. “ I’ll watch out thet no Indians 
bothers this outfit to-night.” 

Despite these assurances the members of the 
party spent a somewhat restless night. San An¬ 
tone did not turn in at all, but crept about or sat 
outside the camp the whole night through. 

The party made a late start next day. For two 
days they continued on without incident, sight- 


42 


GRACE HARLOWE 


ing neither game nor human beings, though all 
were especially on the alert for the latter, then 
one morning they rode into the town of Custer. 
They found nothing of interest there, and after 
purchasing necessary supplies rode away late in 
the afternoon, soon finding themselves in a forest 
made up of tall spruce, some fir, clumps of willows 
and a young growth of birch and aspen. Stacy 
eyed the aspen tree inquiringly. 

“ I don't see it shake," he said. 

“ How shake? ” questioned the guide. 

“ Didn't you ever hear of folks shaking like an 
aspen leaf? " demanded the fat boy. 

“ The way Mr. Brown shook when he saw the 
Indians," reminded Emma. 

The guide grinned and gave the tree a kick, 
and instantly all the leaves started a-quivering. 

“ That’s the idea. Now I know how an aspen 
leaf does shake. It is just the way I shook when 
I had the chills and fever on a trip with the Pony 
Rider Boys. Where are we at? " 

“ Custer Park," the guide informed him. “ I 
reckon it don’t look much like the parks you folks 
have seen," he added with a grin. 

Camp was made that afternoon in the great 
park that bore the name of the unfortunate gen¬ 
eral who fell in an Indian massacre with his en¬ 
tire command. The Overlanders were familiar 
with the history of that terrible slaughter, familiar 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


43 


with the location where the battle was fought, 
so far as reading could inform them. They were 
at some distance from the battleground, however, 
and had no intention of visiting it on this trip. 

It was decided to remain in the park for a day 
or so, explore it and do some hunting, for the 
party had not shot a single piece of game thus 
far. After a good night’s rest the Overlanders 
arose refreshed and ready for whatever might be 
in store for them. After a consultation at break¬ 
fast it was decided that hunting should be the 
order of the day, but Stacy, Lieutenant Wingate 
and Grace, with Elfreda Briggs, were the only 
ones who cared to go out. Emma and Nora com¬ 
plained that they were lame from riding, and 
Tom Gray averred that he preferred to go out 
“ prospecting.” 

The four Overlanders started away, Grace and 
Elfreda laughing and chattering, without regard 
to the disturbance they were creating. 

“ Say! Are you two going to be with us all 
day? ” demanded Stacy. “ If you are, we had 
better carry marbles than rifles. You will scare 
all the game out of the Hills.” 

“ At least they will know enough not to shoot 
some rancher’s cow,” Emma called after them. 

“ Be careful thet you don’t get lost,” ad¬ 
monished San Antone, who had followed them 
out to point out certain landmarks to the hunters. 


44 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Keep thet high granite peak over yonder in 
sight. When you see the white splotches you’ll 
know you’re on this side of it. Behind the camp 
is a straight black peak. Head fer thet and you’ll 
be all right. If you get lost shoot three times, one 
long and a short space between shots. Good 
luck! ” 

“ I propose to strike off to the northwest,” 
finally announced Hippy after they had progressed 
some distance from camp. “ It looks wild off 
that way and there is better cover for stalking 
game. What do you girls propose to do? ” 

“Why, we thought we would try those ridges 
to the right of us. They, too, look promising for 
game,” answered Grace. 

“ Good! Go over there and sit down in the 
shade of the old aspen trees. Leave the hunting 
to us men,” urged Stacy. “ The deer on your 
side will be safe.” 

A few moments later the two parties were out 
of sight of each other. Up to noon, however. 
Hippy and Stacy had sighted no game at all. 
They sat down beside a stream to eat the lunch¬ 
eon they had brought along, and while eating a 
distant rifle shot echoed faintly among the Hills. 
It was followed by a second shot. 

“ That may have been fired by one of the girls,” 
announced Lieutenant Wingate. “ The first shot 
evidently missed. I hope the second one landed. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


45 


Stacy, you and I have got to make good to-day. 
It never will do to let Grace and Elfreda beat us 
out.” 

“ They won’t. Don’t worry,” answered Stacy. 

The two men once more started forward, talk¬ 
ing in low tones, and as they progressed the scene 
grew wilder, but no game appeared. Suddenly 
Lieutenant Wingate threw up a warning hand 
and stood listening. 

“ What is it, Uncle Hip? ” whispered Stacy. 

“ I thought I heard someone yelling. Yes! 
There it goes again.” 

“ I hear it, but I call it screeching, not yelling. 
It sounds just like the screech that Indian let out 
when San Antone shot him the other night,” ob¬ 
served Stacy. 

The “ yelling ” soon grew into a distant uproar. 

“ Come on! ” shouted Hippy, sprinting away, 
followed by his companion. “ Something surely 
is going on, and we may be able to stir up a 
little excitement.” 

The uproar increased in volume as they ran on, 
and the pair had not proceeded far ere Hippy saw 
a spiral of thin smoke curling up ahead of them. 
He slowed down instantly, at the same time 
cautioning his companion to keep quiet until they 
discovered what the trouble was. They crept 
along cautiously for some distance. 

“ It’s Indians, all right,” volunteered Stacy. 


46 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ White folks couldn’t make a racket like that, 
nor — ” 

“ Sh-h-h-h! ” Lieutenant Wingate had parted 
the bushes and was peering through. He beckoned 
to Stacy to come up beside him. 

“ I told you it was Indians/’ breathed Chunky 
in an awed tone as he gazed on the scene before 
them. 

“ Nomads of the Hills. A roving band of Sioux 
Indians,” muttered Hippy. “Look! They’re 
trying to kill that squaw! ” he exclaimed. 

“We can’t stop it, can we? ” demanded Stacy. 
“ If they want to, they’ll probably do it. I’m 
for getting out of here hot foot.” 

“ Yes we can, too! ” raged Lieutenant Wingate. 

Before the pair lay a small Indian village of a 
dozen or more tepees, with smoldering fires 
scattered about. Dogs were barking, children 
running about in play, and braves were lounging 
about the camp indolently at ease. 

But this was not what stirred the ire and the 
fighting blood of Lieutenant Hippy Wingate. 
One whom he took to be a squaw was being un¬ 
mercifully beaten and buffeted about by a group 
of squaws and stripling bucks. The woman was 
being mauled with fists, struck with clubs and 
violently kicked by moccasined feet, while the 
air was filled with ugly yells and screeches of rage. 
It was like a scene from a hideous nightmare, and 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


47 


Hippy Wingate, reared in all the ideals of 
chivalry to womanhood, was quivering with 
righteous indignation. 

“ They surely will kill her! ” breathed Stacy. 

“Not if we can prevent it. Come along! ” 
snapped Hippy, striding boldly into the Indian 
village. 

Beyond a few curious glances, from lounging 
redskins, the pair at first attracted little atten¬ 
tion. The rest of the village was too fully oc¬ 
cupied with its attack on the woman, and the 
beating of the squaw went on. 

“ She’s down! ” cried Stacy. 

“No! She’s up again,” answered Lieutenant 
Wingate, making the sign of peace that he had 
learned from an Indian in the Great North 
Woods. 

Down went the squaw, whereupon her attack¬ 
ers began hurling stones at the prostrate figure. 

“ Here, here! Stop that! ” shouted Lieutenant 
Wingate. Even in that uproar, his voice carried 
to everyone in the village. 

The attackers paused and regarded the in¬ 
truders with scowling countenances. 

“ How! ” said Hippy, again making the sign of 
peace. 

“ Ho! ” answered a buck. “ Who you? ” 

“ Strangers in the Hills. We have a party 
near here. I wish to know why you are abusing 


48 


GRACE HARLOWE 


that woman. You know that sort of thing doesn't 
go these days, even with Indians." 

“ Him squaw." 

“ I know that. But why? " 

“Him squaw." 

“This is the first time I ever heard that a 
squaw was a him," observed Chunky, regarding 
the scene with wide eyes. “You let her alone! 
What has she done? " 

“ Heap tenderfoot squaw," grunted the Indian. 

“You let her alone or we will report you to 
the Agency at Pine Ridge," threatened Hippy. 
“ Does the agent allow you to beat your squaws? " 

There was no reply, but bucks, squaws, dogs 
and children began drawing in on the intruders. 
The dogs sniffed suspiciously at the calves of the 
two white men, snapped and drew back. Stacy 
kicked one in the chops, which sent the animal 
away yelping. 

“ Don’t! " rebuked Hippy, not taking his eyes 
from the Indians. 

“ He tried to take a chunk out of my leg. I 
guess I will kick him if I want to." 

Whatever reply Lieutenant Wingate was about 
to make was checked by a shrill cry in Sioux ut¬ 
tered by a squaw. This, it appeared, was the sig¬ 
nal for a renewal of the attack. The victim had 
now gotten to her feet and was trying to steal 
away when a blow from the fist of a buck sent 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


49 

her reeling. Shouts, yells, shrill cries and explo¬ 
sive utterances were heard on all sides. It was 
more than Lieutenant Wingate could endure. 

“You stop that!” he roared, the hot blood 
rushing to his face. 

The group fell back as Hippy charged in among 
them, thrusting braves and squaws out of his 
way. He did not stop to consider that he was 
doing an imprudent thing — a perilous thing for 
himself and his companion. Reaching the center 
of the angry group, Hippy seized the dazed squaw 
and fairly carried her beyond the warring circle of 
braves, squaws, dogs and children. 

The squaw staggered away, soon caught her 
balance, then ran with all speed for the protection 
of the brush, a volley of stones following, amid 
the jeers, hoots and yells of the villagers. 

Now that their victim had succeeded in escap¬ 
ing, the Indians turned their attention to Hippy, 
chattered menacingly for a few seconds, then, 
with one accord, moved threateningly towards 
the Overland Rider. 

Hippy, who had laid down his rifle, began slowly 
backing towards it. At this juncture Stacy gave 
a shrill whistle through his teeth, and as the 
Indians glanced in his direction he significantly 
tapped the rifle on which he was leaning. 

“ Don’t forget that I’ve got a gun, you 
savages! ” warned the boy. 

4 - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


50 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER V 

MISSING IN THE HILLS 

4 4 7 * OU buck over there with the club! ” 

j warned the fat boy, again tapping 
A his rifle significantly. “ Shinny on 
your own side.” 

“ Don’t you bother that woman again, either,” 
added Hippy, picking up his rifle. “ Remember, 
if you do you will hear from the Indian Agent.” 

No reply was made to either remark, but the 
black looks of the braves and squaws made up for 
their lack of speech. 

“ Come along, Chunky, you did finely. We are 
about as popular ’round here as a couple of snakes 
at a lawn party.” 

Without deigning another look at the roaming 
band of Sioux both Overland men turned their 
backs on them and strode from the camp, and as 
the Overlanders disappeared in the shrubbery a 
medley of screeches from the squaws and yelps 
from the braves sped them on their way. 

“ I reckon the ladies back there have found their 
tongues,” chuckled Lieutenant Wingate. “Do 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


51 


you know, Chunky, I have a feeling on the inside 
of me that I have put my foot in it? ” 

“ Do you know, Uncle Hip, I’ve got a feeling 
all over the outside of me that somehow you 
have put both feet in it? Do you know some 
more — the squaw that was being walloped didn’t 
look to me like a squaw at all.” 

“ It was a squaw. No doubt as to that,” dif¬ 
fered Hippy. “ And, had we not chanced to come 
along when we did, they undoubtedly would have 
killed the poor thing. I don’t yet know what it 
was all about. Do you? ” 

“ Nobody knows why a redskin does things. 
I wish San Antonio had been with us. I’ll bet 
he would have made sieves of some of those 
bucks. What now? ” 

“ Home, before the Indians change their minds 
and get after us. Besides, it is getting late and 
we shall have to hustle or we won’t get in until 
after dark. I hate to go back without getting 
a shot at a single thing, but it can’t be helped.” 

Stacy said they had been fighting bigger game 
than deer, and that that was more than the other 
two hunters would have to boast about. 

The Overland men were now heading for home 
at a swinging pace, Hippy now and then casting 
a look back over his shoulder to see if they were 
being followed. He did not know what the 
Indians might do after they had had time to 


52 


GRACE HARLOWE 


think over the interference of the two strangers. 
Dusk already was at hand when they reached 
the point at which they had parted from Grace 
and Elfreda. 

“ Wal? ” drawled a familiar voice. “ What 
luck? ” 

“ Hulloa, San Antonio, Texas! ” greeted Stacy. 
“We met a whole flock of bucks, but didn’t shoot 
any of them.” 

“ Why not? ” 

“Because they were Indian bucks. Ha, ha! ” 
laughed Chunky. 

“ Where are the young women? ” demanded 
San Antone abruptly, seeming to realize for the 
first time that they were not with Stacy and 
Hippy. 

Lieutenant Wingate explained that the girls 
had gone away by themselves, but that they 
probably had returned to camp long before 
then. He then related the story of their meeting 
with the roving band of Sioux and their defense 
of the unfortunate squaw. 

“ You-all don’t mean to say thet you did thet? ” 
demanded San Antone in amazement. 

“Yes. Why not? They were abusing her 
shamefully.” 

“ Lieutenant, you-all air shore in fer trouble 
now. Thet ‘ squaw ’ probably wan’t no squaw at 
all — she probably was a ‘squaw-buck’?” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


53 


“ What did I tell you? ” nodded Stacy. “ What 
is a ‘ squaw-buck ’? ” 

“ A real he-buck in disgrace, a feller thet had 
showed a yellow streak in some test or other an* 
has been made to wear squaw clothes an’ do 
squaws’ work an’ get kicked an’ punched fer his 
pains. They call thet breed ‘ squaws ’ or ‘ squaw- 
bucks.’ If this is thet, then, Lieutenant, you-all 
hev insulted them redskins an’ they won’t never 
fergit it. They’ll take it out of you-all the first 
chance thet they get.” 

“ That doesn’t frighten me any, San Antone,” 
answered Hippy. 

“ Another thing. When you-all find a village 
off in the Hills like thet you may be shore thet the 
redskins air nursin’ a grouch, an’ thet they’re 
tryin’ to get away from the eyes of the Indian 
Agent so they can cut up devilment. So long as 
they keep out of mischief he don’t bother ’em. 
Somethin’ shore is brewin’ in these heah Hills, 
I reckon.” 

“ What eventually happens to the 1 squaw ’? ” 
questioned Hippy as they walked along with the 
guide to his pony, on which he had packed a fine 
young deer. “ How long does he have to be a 
‘ squaw ’? ” 

“ Thet depends. He must take all the insults 
an’ not kick. If he is yellow an’ goes to the 
Indian Agent an’ asks fer protection he’ll be dis- 


54 


GRACE HARLOWE 


graced ever after an’ mebby lose his life as a 
result. If, howso, he perform some deed thet, in 
the eyes of the Council, wipes out his yellow 
streak, then the critter goes back as a buck among 
bucks.” 

Hippy cast a sidelong glance at Chunky and 
grinned. 

“ Boy, I reckon we stirred up more than we 
thought,” he said. 

“ I reckon,” nodded the fat boy. 

They looked over the deer on San Antone’s 
pony with rather envious eyes, and, for the sake 
of their own reputations as hunters, sincerely 
hoped that Grace and Elfreda had had no better 
luck than they. 

“ Say, Lieutenant! ” exclaimed the guide after 
they had started for camp. “ Thet black feller 
was ’round the diggin’s again to-day.” 

“ The Man in Black? ” questioned Stacy, in¬ 
stantly interested. 

“ Yes. Miss Dean seen him peckin’ ’way at a 
rock. Funny thing. He got out of sight so quick 
thet Miss Dean didn’t see him go. An’, do you- 
all know, I couldn’t find his trail. I reckon I’ll 
throw a gun on him one of these days an’ see if 
he is real,” threatened the guide. 

“ I reckon you will do nothing of the sort,” 
retorted Hippy. 

They reached the camp in the early evening, in 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


55 


fact, the campfire lighted them in on the last 
stage of their hike. The Overlanders heard them 
approaching, and Tom Gray was on the lookout 
to see who was coming. 

“ Did you get any game? ” he called. 

“ Yes. We and San Antonio, Texas, got a fine 
young buck/' called back Stacy as they were en¬ 
tering the camp. 

“ Are the girls coming along? ” questioned Tom, 
passing a hand over the deer and complimenting 
the hunters on their luck. 

“ The girls! ” exclaimed Lieutenant Wingate. 
“ Are — aren’t they here? ” 

“ No. They are with you. Don’t give me heart 
disease by telling me they are not,” laughed Tom, 
believing that Hippy was seeking to stir him up. 

“ What’s thet?” drawled San Antone. 

“ To — om, you surely don’t mean to say that 
Grace and Elfreda have not returned? ” exclaimed 
Hippy. 

“We haven’t seen them since they went out 
with you and Stacy this forenoon. Where did 
you last see them? ” Tom’s voice was steady but 
tense. 

“ About three miles from here. They decided 
that they didn’t care to go on with us, so we went 
on, and — ” 

“ They’re lost! ” cried Nora Wingate. 

“ No. Trust Grace for finding her way back to 


56 


GRACE HARLOWE 


camp every time. Something has happened to 
them,’’ groaned Tom Gray. 

“ Tony! " It was Emma Dean's voice, and the 
note in it thrilled and stirred San Antone as he 
never had been stirred before. 

The guide fairly tore the buck from his saddle. 
Hippy and Tom, with one accord, ran for their 
ponies. 

“Tom, you stay here! ” urged Hippy. “ It is 
necessary that I go to show San Antone where the 
girls left us. Someone must stay to protect the 
camp." 

“ I’m going," was Tom’s brief answer. “ Stacy, 
you stay here and look after Nora and Emma." 

By the time the two men had led their ponies 
into the camp, San Antone was flinging himself 
into his saddle, and a few seconds later the guide 
was galloping away, setting a pace so reckless that 
the two Overland Riders momentarily expected 
to come to grief. 

Nora stood wringing her hands and weeping, 
following the departure. Stacy’s eyes were big 
and solemn, but Emma was the most self- 
possessed of all. 

“ Stacy, don’t look at me like that. Be a man 
and tell me where and how you left Grace and 
Elfreda. Where was it? ’’ she demanded. 

The Overland boy told her all that he knew 
about that phase of the mystery. Following this, 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


57 


Emma led him on to speak of the experiences of 
himself and Lieutenant Wingate with the roving 
band of Sioux, from which the little Overland girl 
shrewdly drew her own conclusions. 

All unknown to the three Overlanders there was 
another interested listener to Stacy Brown’s story, 
an eager listener who lay secreted in the bushes 
but a few yards from Chunky and Emma. Not 
a word of the conversation was lost to his alert 
ears, but he made no move until some time after 
Stacy had finished and Emma had suggested that 
they let the fire die down and sit in the shadows 
with their rifles ready in case the camp was dis¬ 
turbed. 

The eavesdropper then crawled off for a little 
distance, got up and started walking away, but 
he did not go far. Apparently changing his mind 
he sat down where, though well screened from 
sight, an excellent view of the entire camp was 
afforded. 

The hours dragged on wearily for those wait¬ 
ing in camp, eagerly listening for the sound of the 
returning horsemen. The three ate their supper 
without much relish, certainly with no enjoyment. 
Nine o’clock came and the fire was nearly burned 
out, when Stacy announced that he was not going 
to sit in the dark, and promptly threw fresh fuel 
on the coals. A blaze leaped up and soon the 
camp was brightly lighted. 


58 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“You shouldn’t have done that,” rebuked 
Emma. “ Now we must get farther back in the 
shadows. Oh! ” 

A revolver shot crashed out in the still air 
with a report that brought the Overlanders to 
their feet. A yell, a floundering in the bushes, 
was instantly followed by a scream from Nora 
Wingate. 

Stacy Brown started on a run for his tent, then, 
shamed by Emma, he halted with rifle at ready. 

“ Keep steady and keep quiet! ” directed Emma 
with a calmness that she did not feel. “Don’t 
shoot unless you are certain what you are shoot¬ 
ing at,” she added, making ready her own rifle 
for instant action. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


59 


CHAPTER VI 
“ i'm goin' to kill a man ” 

OT a sound followed the shooting, except 



as Nora Wingate, who sat huddled 


under a bush, uttered an occasional 


moan. Emma and Stacy pluckily held their posi¬ 
tions almost without a movement for a full hour, 
and the mysterious eavesdropper also held his 
position a few yards beyond the camp. 

In the meantime San Antone, with Tom Gray 
and Hippy Wingate, had pulled up at the point 
where Grace and Elfreda had last been seen. 

“They went off to the right from here,” an¬ 
nounced Hippy. 

The guide flung himself from his pony without 
a word. The Texan’s long training on the ranges 
and in the Hills stood him in good stead. With¬ 
out loss of time he gathered wood for torches 
and lighted them, handing one to Hippy. 

“ Cap’n Gray, you lead the ponies while the 
lieutenant an’ I look around heah a bit,” he 
directed. 

“ I think I have their trail,” announced Hippy, 


60 


GRACE HARLOWE 


bending over to peer at the ground. San Antone 
was at his side in an instant, and there in the 
soft earth he saw the- footprints of two small 
boots. 

“ This is them,” agreed the guide. “ You 
follow them and I’ll look along the sides of the 
trail to see if anybody else was watchin’ the 
women.” 

“You — you don’t think—” began Tom in 
alarm. 

“ Don’t think nothin’. Jest lookin’,” replied the 
guide tersely. 

Hippy found little difficulty in keeping the trail 
of the two girls. Now and then a stretch of rock 
caused him to lose it, but he soon picked up the 
trail farther on. 

San Antone was trotting along some little dis¬ 
tance from Hippy, first on one side of the trail, 
then on the other, Tom following with the horses 
and noting the surroundings with the eyes of a 
man trained to finding his way about; for Tom 
was a forester by profession, and thoroughly at 
home in the open. 

“ Hark! I thought I heard a shot. It sounded 
a long way off. Do you think it is the girls signal¬ 
ing to us? ” Tom questioned sharply. 

“ I heard it,” drawled San Antone. “ It wan’t 
them. Thet was a revolver, an’ I reckon it was 
somewhere near our camp.” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


61 


They stood still, listening for a few moments, 
but there was no repetition of the shot. What 
they had faintly heard was the shot fired just 
outside of the Overland camp, and the last echo- 
of it in the Hills had barely reached them. 

“ Cap’n Gray, I reckon somethin’ is goin’ on 
over by the camp, an’ thet you’d better go back 
an’ look into it. What do you-all reckon? ” 

“ Yes. We shall feel easier if you do, Tom. Of 
course, if you wish, I will go back,” volunteered 
Hippy. 

“ I’ll go,” answered Tom after slight hesitancy. 
“ You will let me know as soon as you find them, 
won’t you? ” 

“ We will give you gun-signals,” answered Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate. “ Keep your ears open.” 

“ Mebby we won’t get back till mornin’, so don’t 
worry ’bout us,” urged the guide. 

Without another word Tom turned over the two 
ponies to San Antone who staked them down, 
after which Captain Gray rode away at a fast 
jog. 

“ I reckon thet shot didn’t ’mount to much, 
but I didn’t want him ’long ’cause I reckon we’re 
goin’ to find somethin’ round heah that would 
make the cap’n red-headed,” observed the guide. 

“ San Antone, what do you mean? ” demanded 
Hippy. 

“ Wal, mebby I don’t mean nothin’ at all, but 


62 


GRACE HARLOWE 


I shore do reckon thet we shall find somethin in 
thet gulch jest ahaid of us. Heah is a fresh torch. 
Now watch out an’ keep you-all’s gun whar you 
can reach it in a hurry.” 

Lieutenant Wingate did not catch the full sig¬ 
nificance of the guide’s words, but he did know 
that San Antone was disturbed and that he feared 
some peril had overtaken the girls. Both men 
now settled down in earnest to follow the trail, 
which led them towards the gulch that the guide 
had just mentioned. 

Entering the gloomy gulch, they had proceeded 
some distance when Hippy uttered a sudden ex¬ 
clamation. 

“ Come here! ” he cried. “ What is this? ” 

San Antone was trotting along some little dis¬ 
ing at a soiled sheet of paper that Hippy held to¬ 
wards him. The guide took one glance at it, 
then directed his attention to the rock from which 
Lieutenant Wingate had picked up the paper. 

“ Don’t you-all know ’bout this heah? This is 
whar the girls set down to eat their lunch. 
Nothin’ heah to hold us up, so we’ll be hittin’ the 
trail again.” 

The ground being rocky made their work less 
certain here, but San Antone said that a short dis¬ 
tance ahead the gulch widened and the ground 
being softer there, trailing would be easier. At 
the point where they then were, the two girls 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


63 


could have gone only one of two ways, ahead, or 
turned back towards home. The searchers knew 
that they had not turned back, therefore they con¬ 
tinued on rather more rapidly than before. 

As San Antone had said would be the case, a 
quarter of a mile farther on the gulch widened 
into a narrow valley covered with a thick growth 
of bushes and spindling trees. There the guide 
took the lead, directing his companion to fall be¬ 
hind, help light the way, and take care of their 
mounts. San Antone worked rapidly but pains¬ 
takingly. The trail now was so plain that a novice 
could have followed it, for bushes were broken 
over and footprints were easily discernible, and 
the guide hurried on filled with eagerness. 

“Heah it is! ” he announced, halting abruptly, 
swinging his torch slowly back and forth as he 
keenly surveyed the surroundings. 

“ A spring? ” questioned Hippy. 

“ Yes. An’ thet’s what I reckoned on findin\ 
But thet ain’t all. The women stopped heah fer 
a drink of water, an’ I reckon we’ll find thet thet’s 
’bout all they did do. Stay whar you be till I 
look ’round a little.” 

Bent well forward, torch thrust ahead of him, 
San Antone ran about in a manner that reminded 
Lieutenant Wingate of a rabbit dog following a 
crooked scent. Hippy observed, too, that the 
bushes about the spring had been freshly trampled 


64 


GRACE HARLOWE 


down and that they looked as if the trampling 
had been done by several persons. 

Returning to the spring, San Antone examined 
the ground about it with critical eyes, then trotted 
on ahead again, his torch bobbing up and down 
like a light buoy on troubled shoal waters. 

Hippy left the ponies for a few moments dur¬ 
ing the absence of the guide, and made an ex¬ 
amination of the ground in the immediate vicinity 
of the spring to satisfy his own curiosity. That 
examination caused him to utter an exclamation. 
Instead of two pairs of footprints there were 
many, nor were these prints all made by the nar¬ 
row boots of the two Overland girls. 

Startling as the discovery was, Hippy Wingate 
did not yet realize the full meaning of it. He 
called to San Antone to know what it all meant, 
but the guide did not answer. 

Upon the Texan's return, Hippy was awed as, 
in the light of the torch held aloft by San Antone, 
he saw the expression on the guide's face. 

“ What is it? " begged Hippy. 

“ Lieutenant, I'm goin' to kill a man,” drawled 
the guide, and in his slow, easy speech there was 
a note deadly and terrible. 

“ You think — ” 

“I know! Indians! The Indians got ’em — 
took 'em over thar whar their ponies war tethered, 
and carried 'em away! ” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


65 


“God help them! ” groaned Lieutenant Win¬ 
gate. “ What can we do? ” 

“Do! Ride — ride! Ride like all possessed, 
an’ when we find ’em —” The guide hitched his 
revolver belt, and fairly flung himself into his 
saddle. Hippy, following his example, was soon 
tearing along, in the light shed by San Antone’s 
streaming torch. 


6 - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


66 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER VII 

A NIGHT OF THRILLS 

OYALHEART, it is getting late,” re¬ 



minded Elfreda Briggs, as they strolled 
out into the valley where later the 


guide and Hippy found their tracks. “ We have 
done much talking, but little hunting.” 

“ What does it matter? We have had a happy 
day,” answered Grace laughingly. “ Here is a 
spring. Let us get a drink, sit down and rest for 
a few moments, then start campward.” 

“ Don’t you think we had best start at once? 
It will be dark when we reach camp,” urged Miss 
Briggs. 

“ I think not. I at least am going to have some 
of this wonderful water. There are no germs in 
mountain water, J. Elfreda.” 

The girls drank their fill and sat chatting for a 
few moments, their rifles beside them ready for 
use in case game should be sighted. Finally Grace 
said they must be going, then all at once she 
whirled, and found herself gazing into the faces 
of two Indian squaws. They were sullen faces, 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


67 


and the eyes of the squaws held a menace that 
was not to be mistaken. 

“ How! ” greeted Grace with an assurance that 
she was far from feeling. Elfreda was speechless 
with amazement. 

As she spoke, the girls started to rise, but at 
that instant both squaws snatched off their 
brightly colored blankets and leaping on the two 
girls, they cast the blankets over the Overlanders’ 
heads. 

Now thoroughly aroused Grace and Elfreda 
fought with all their strength. With the arms of 
a squaw about her, each girl rolled and strug¬ 
gled, both squaws uttering shrill cries that brought 
several Indian bucks to the scene. Firm hands 
were now laid on the Overland girls and their 
arms were pinioned to their sides. 

Grace and Elfreda were helpless. Struggling 
would now avail them nothing, so both saved 
their strength and awaited the further actions of 
their captors. The girls were soon picked up 
bodily and carried some distance, when both Grace 
and Elfreda were lifted to the back of an Indian 
pony. 

“ You try get away, me kill! ” shouted a squaw’s 
voice close to Miss Briggs’ ear. 

“ Thank heaven we are allowed to ride together 
and alone,” muttered Grace, already beginning to 
plan for escape at the first opportunity. 


68 


GRACE HARLOWE 


The pony soon was jogging along at a rapid 
pace. Elfreda, who was sitting in front, with 
Grace just behind her, clung to the girth of the 
saddleless pony with the tips of her fingers, but 
Grace, having no such support, slipped and slid 
from side to side in imminent peril of falling off 
with every jolt of the horse. 

The journey seemed unending. Night came 
on, but still the Indians and their captives jogged 
on, traveling for a long distance in the bed of a 
stream. The girls knew this because of the water 
splashed over their feet by their mount. 

Late in the night the party halted and a con¬ 
ference was held by their captors with another 
party of Indians; then the journey was resumed, 
but the rest of that grilling ride, while brief, was 
one that neither Overland girl ever forgot. The 
final halt was made sometime in the early hours of 
the morning, whereupon there followed another 
pow-wow in which they heard a voice that seemed 
to belong to a white man. 

Elfreda uttered a sudden cry for help. An in¬ 
stant later both girls were jerked from their 
mount by a group of chattering squaws and 
pushed stumbling and protesting into a building 
that, later, proved to be an old deserted smelter 
in a once prosperous mining district of the Black 
Hills. They were thrust into a room and the door 
slammed behind them. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


69 


Worn out in mind and body the Overland girls 
sank down moaning, but soon, in sudden realiza¬ 
tion that they were alone, they began struggling 
to free themselves. Miss Briggs succeeded in do¬ 
ing so first, then toppled over in utter exhaustion. 
She was up in a moment and tugging at Grace’s 
bonds. 

“ Grace! ” she cried, as she succeeded in strip¬ 
ping the blanket from her companion. “ Are 
you all right? ” 

“No, but I think I am still alive,” gasped 
Grace. “ Wait! Let me rest,” she begged, stretch¬ 
ing out on her back on the floor, where she lay for 
a few moments and then rose unsteadily to her 
feet. 

Elfreda was already up. 

“ Did they take your revolver, Loyalheart? ” 
she questioned. 

“ Yes. And yours? ” 

“ My holster is empty, but I am not wholly de¬ 
fenseless,” replied Miss Briggs with a confident 
note in her voice that led Grace to wonder what 
she meant. After fumbling in search of her match 
box, Elfreda finally found it and struck a light. 
By its flickering light they saw that they were in 
a big room, blackened rafters showing faintly in 
the shadows high over their heads. The windows 
were heavily boarded and a stout wooden door, 
that, after a cautious attempt to open, Elfreda 


70 


GRACE HARLOWE 


found was secured on the outside. Two broken 
wooden chairs and a pine table were the only 
pieces of furniture in the room. 

“ Grace, what do you think this means? ” won¬ 
dered Miss Briggs. 

“ I don’t know, and I am too worn out to think. 
The one big problem before us now is, how are we 
to get away, for get away we must. I wish we 
had our weapons.” 

“ We have. Grace, I have a confession to make. 
I have a good trusty automatic revolver in a hol¬ 
ster attached to my money belt under my clothes. 
My experience with the Overlanders has taught 
Elfreda Briggs to go prepared for all eventualities.” 

“ Good! That puts new life into me, Elfreda. 
Don’t use it unless our lives depend upon it, then 
shoot straight. I think— Merciful Heaven! 
What is that? ” 

A scream, the wildest, weirdest, most thrilling 
that they had ever heard, echoed through the old 
building. The screams continued, now sounding 
close at hand. 

“ A woman! ” cried Grace. 

“ They are coming nearer,” whispered Elfreda. 
“ She is at the door! ” 

The screams were now more thrilling, and then 
began a tremendous pounding on the heavy door. 
Each stroke of some heavy object was accom¬ 
panied by another of those soul-chilling screams. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


71 


“ Go away or I’ll shoot! ” threatened Elfreda in 
a voice pitched high with excitement. 

“ No, no! ” protested Grace Harlowe. “ Don’t 
lose yourself. Keep your head, Elfreda, and help 
me to keep mine or I surely shall go to pieces. 
Indians are preferable to this.” 

“ She is going away! Thank Heaven!”, 
moaned Elfreda, a few moments later. )' 

“And going fast,” muttered Grace, as the 
screams sounded farther and farther away. 

Then a new sound at the door put both girls 
instantly on the alert. A key rattled in the lock 
and a bar was removed from the outside of the 
door, then the door opened ever so little and a 
lantern was thrust in. The Overland girls drew 
back into the deeper shadows and waited breath¬ 
lessly, waited until a man stepped in and raised 
the lantern above his head to keep the light out 
of his own eyes and give him a better view of the 
room. 

It was far from being a prepossessing face that 
the girls momentarily saw, and there was some¬ 
thing familiar about it to both, but the memory 
it revived was gone almost as quickly as it came. 

“ What do you want? ” demanded Grace much 
more bravely than she felt. 

“Ah reckon Ah wants some information. If 
you-all give it to me straight Ah’11 see that you 
git out.” 


72 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Stand where you are!” commanded Miss 
Briggs sternly. “ What dp you wish to know? ” 

“ Ah reckons you-all ain’t here fer no good 
a-tall. Who be ye an’ what be ye doin’ in these 
Hills? ” 

“We are members of the Overland Riders, 
traveling through the Hills for pleasure,” an¬ 
swered Grace. 

“Ah! So? Ah reckoned that war it. That’s 
one thing that Ah wanted to know. Helpin’ the 
revenue officers to meddle with other folks’ busi¬ 
ness, be ye? ” 

Elfreda said they knew no revenue officers, had 
no connection with them, and wished only to be 
let alone and permitted to follow their own trail 
without interference. 

“ If that is all you wish to know,” she added, 
“ I would suggest that you go away, leaving the 
door open so that we may go. I warn you that 
any further interference with us will result in 
serious difficulties for you and the Indians who 
are serving you so well. The Indian Agent shall 
be informed of what they did last night. That 
means that you will come in for some of the 
punishment meted out to them.” 

“ Don’t! ” whispered Grace. 

“Permit us to go and we will promise to say 
nothing about your part in this present affair,” 
then announced Miss Briggs. 



“I Have Warned You!” 
73 
























































































IN THE BLACK HILLS 


75 


“ Not yit. Ah reckon you-all air goin' to stay 
heah till we find out 'bout the rest of the gang 
that's with ye. Ah'11 git a better look at ye now, 
so's Ah'll know ye when Ah sees ye again," 
added the man, taking a step forward and holding 
the lantern higher. 

“ Stop! Don't you dare come another inch 
farther," warned Elfreda Briggs in a shrill voice. 

The man gave no heed to the warning, but 
moved cautiously forward, peering, seeking for a 
look at the faces of the girls so that he might not 
forget them, or for recognition of someone that 
he had seen before. 

“ I have warned you! " reminded Elfreda in a 
steadier tone. 

Her warning was unheeded. 

A flash and a sharp report followed almost in¬ 
stantly. The lantern in the hand of the man sud¬ 
denly went out accompanied by the sound of 
breaking glass. Elfreda Briggs had fired point- 
blank at him, but her shot had gone high and 
shattered the lafitern. 

“I'll kill you-all fer that! " yelled the fellow, 
starting for Miss Briggs. 

Elfreda fired again, but the shot went wild. 

Grace, at this juncture, snatched up one of the 
chairs and hurled it at the man. It crashed at 
his feet, and the fellow, tripping on it, measured 
his length on the floor. 


76 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Run! ” cried Grace in a shrill voice. “ Don't 
shoot again! ” 

The Overland girls dashed out through the open 
door, followed by the angry shouts of their victim 
and thrilling screams in a woman's voice, the 
same soul-stirring screams that they had heard 
before. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


77 


CHAPTER VIII 

WHERE THE TRAIL LED 

F OR some distance San Antone and Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate found little difficulty in 
following the trail left by the Indian 
ponies, but when finally they came to a water¬ 
course it became more difficult. This difficulty 
lessened somewhat when once more the mountains 
closed in on them and they again found them¬ 
selves in a deep canyon. 

“ They can go only one way now,” observed 
Hippy encouragingly. 

“ Two miles further on the canyon splits into 
three. Thet means more trouble for us,” an¬ 
swered the guide. 

They soon reached the dividing point where 
they dismounted, the guide making a thorough 
examination of the little mountain streams that 
flowed through the three gorges and finally re¬ 
turning to his companion. 

“ The critters split up heah,” he announced. 

“ What do you mean, Tony? ” 

“ Went three ways,” answered the guide. “ I 


78 


GRACE HARLOWE 


reckons, though, thet the ones we air lookup fer 
took the left-hand canyon. One pony thet went 
thet way sunk its feet deeper into the ground 
than any of the others. Thet means thet he car¬ 
ried a heavier load. It’s my opinion thet both 
girls was put on one pony an’ thet the pony went 
the way I said. We’ll go thet way.” 

“ Tony! ” cried Hippy, laboring under consider¬ 
able excitement. “ Which way from here is the 
camp of those Indians that Stacy and I came upon 
to-day? ” 

“ The way we are goin’,” drawled the guide. 

“ That is where they are. Don’t you see, Tony? 
The Sioux, enraged at our interference with their 
sport when we defended the * squaw,’ have taken 
revenge by abducting Miss Briggs and Mrs. Gray. 
You are going to that Indian camp, aren’t you? ” 

“ We air goin’ to follow the trail as long as we 
can see it, I reckon,” replied San Antone, and 
turned his pony into the left-hand gulch, through 
which the riders rode splashing until they were 
soon soaked to the skin. 

It was at dawn on the following morning when 
they emerged from the canyon into the open 
country, and it was less than twenty minutes after 
that that they lost the trail they had been follow¬ 
ing. Nor was San Antone, with all his skill, able 
to find it again. 

“ What now? ” demanded Lieutenant Wingate. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


79 


The guide pondered, ill at ease, for a moment. 

“ Well look in on thet camp. Thet’s the out¬ 
fit thet did the dirty trick, I reckon.” 

At sunrise they rode up to the scene of Hippy’s 
exploit with the “ squaw,” but there were no 
Indians there. They had abandoned their camp 
and sought other hunting grounds. 

San Antone said that he had looked for that 
very thing. 

“ We’ll find the critters,” he drawled. “ Bein’ 
so many of ’em, they can’t hide their trail.” 

The trail was, as he had indicated, an easy one 
to follow, and they came in sight of the smoke of 
campfires about noon that day, and soon the 
faint odor of the smoke of their cook fires was in 
the nostrils of the weary riders. 

“Gracious! That surely makes me hungry,” 
groaned Hippy. “ Do you suppose they are serv¬ 
ing up any hot dogs to-day, Tony? ” 

The guide made no reply. His face was set, 
and Lieutenant Wingate thought he knew what 
was passing through the mind of San Antone. 

The two white men burst into the camp of the 
wandering Sioux at a gallop and brought their 
ponies down sliding. Without an instant’s hesita¬ 
tion, San Antone flung himself from his saddle 
and strode in among the braves and the squaws 
w who were eating their meal from black kettles. 

Hippy Wingate was recognized instantly, but 


80 


GRACE HARLOWE 


only a few of the braves got up. The rest sat on 
their haunches, stolidly chewing on large hunks of 
boiled meat. 

“ What you want? ” demanded a brave. 

“ Who is your chief? ” demanded San Antone. 

“ Chief Wild Tree. Him in tepee,” said the 
Indian to whom the question had been addressed. 

The guide needed no direction to the chief’s 
tepee, for a feather crowning its peak indicated 
that it was the abode of the chief of these wan¬ 
derers of the Hills. 

San Antone strode to the tepee and flung back 
the flap. 

“ Come out of that, ye houn’! ” he commanded. 

Chief Wild Tree, tall, straight, rose to his full 
height and advanced, making the sign of peace, 
which San Antone ignored. 

“ Whar did you-all leave them girls you stole 
last night? ” The question, suddenly put, was 
couched in the lazy tone that San Antone knew so 
well how to assume. 

“Not know what you mean,” answered the 
chief. 

“ Mebby this will wake you-all up! ” The 
guide thrust the muzzle of his revolver against 
the chief’s stomach. “You tell me what you 
know or you air a dead Indian. Where be they? ” 

“Not know,” persisted the chief stubbornly. 
“ All good Indians! ” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


81 


“You will be a good Indian soon if you don't 
talk straight. Good Indians air dead Indians. 
Who carried off those girls? You scoundrel, I’ll 
give you-all one minute to tell the truth.” 

“ Not know. You look, see! ” 

“ I will, then I’ll settle with you.” San Antone 
strode to the nearest tepee, pulled aside the flap 
and looked in. He went on to others, here and 
there entering to look at some object that at¬ 
tracted his attention. 

Murmurs of resentment began to be heard, to 
all of which the guide gave no heed, but Hippy 
felt concerned. He drew his rifle from its holster 
and sat waiting. 

“Hold your tongues! ” he roared, whereupon 
the mutterings died away. 

San Antone, after looking into all the tepees, 
strode over to the Indian ponies and looked them 
over keenly. When he started towards Chief Wild 
Tree, the guide’s face was flaming. 

“ Steady! ” warned Hippy as San Antone passed 
him. It is doubtful, however, if the guide heard 
the sound of his companion’s voice. 

“ Them hosses hev been in the water — four 
of ’em hev been rode hard. Their laigs an’ sides 
is covered with spatterin’s from a muddy arroyo. 
What do you-all ’low fer thet? ” demanded the 
guide, his eyes blazing with blue lightning. 

“ Three white men git um last night. Pay 


6 - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


82 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Chief Wild Tree. See! ” The chief exhibited a 
ten-dollar bill. “ Come back near sun-up.” 

“ Who were they? ” ' 

“ Not know um.” 

“ You-all let strange white men take your 
ponies? No. Thet ain’t the Indian way of doin’. 
It wan’t white men thet rode them ponies, it war 
Indians, an’ when I find out who them critters 
war, somebody’s goin’ to die. If I find you’ve 
been lyin’ to me, I’ll come back an’ kill you. I 
ought to do it now, but instead I’m goin’ to give 
you a wallop — put a bump on you-all’s haid. 
If yer tellin’ the truth, you-all will go to the 
Indian Agent at Pine Ridge an’ complain ’bout me 
fer attackin’ ye. If you don’t complain to the 
Agency I’ll know you’re the liar thet I reckons ye 
be, an’ I’ll come back and kill ye till yer daid! ” 
San Antone like a flash brought the butt of his 
revolver down on the Indian’s head with a re¬ 
sounding whack that was heard all over the camp. 

Chief Wild Tree crumpled down in a heap and 
toppled over on his side. The guide turned a con¬ 
torted face to the camp where mutterings were 
growing into a menacing growl. 

“ Does any of ye cayuses reckon ye wants to git 
the other end of this heah gun? ” he drawled, 
gently swaying the muzzle from side to side, its 
movements encompassing the entire camp. “ If 
ye don’t, shet up! ” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


83 


San Antone lounged over to his pony, mounted 
with a bound, whirled the animal about and sat 
glaring at the band of Sioux, challenging them 
with his eyes, hoping deep down in his heart that 
someone would take up his defi. 

“Pigs! ” he drawled in a tone of disgust, and 
putting spurs to his mount dashed away, followed 
in a hurry by Lieutenant Wingate. 

“You started something this time! ” shouted 
Hippy as he pulled up alongside his companion. 
“ Where now? ” 

“ Back to the camp. Mebby the girls air thar 
by this time. If they ain’t I’m goin’ to take two 
fresh ponies an’ ride fer the Agency to git some¬ 
thin’ else started.” 

“ Do you think that old Wild Tree had any¬ 
thing to do with the stealing of the girls, Tony? ” 

“ If I knew it I’d a-killed him. I’ll do it yit 
if he did. Thar’s one thing sartin. Them ponies 
hev been on jest the kind of a ride I said. There’s 
another thing sartin. If he don’t ride hot foot to 
the Indian Agent at Pine Ridge, he’s in this 
thing. Leastwise, he knows somethin’ ’bout it, 
and thar’s goin’ to be music in these parts right 
smart after I git back from the Ridge,” finished 
the guide, urging his weary mount on to greater 
speed. 

It was well past the middle of the afternoon 
when the guide and Lieutenant Wingate rode into 


84 


GRACE HARLOWE 


the Overland camp, their ponies reeking with 
sweat, the men themselves dusty and saddle- 
weary. 

“Oh, Tony! ” cried Emma, running to San 
Antone, as he sagged wearily from his saddle to 
the ground. “ Don’t — don’t tell me that you did 
not find them! ” 

“We found whar they’d been and we discovered 
what took ’em away,” answered San Antone, his 
face brightening as he gazed down into the plead¬ 
ing eyes of Emma Dean. 

Tom Gray already had led Hippy off to one side 
where he was listening anxiously to the story of 
the search as related by Hippy. 

“ I’m worried so that I’ve lost my appetite, 
Tom,” groaned Hippy. 

“ So am I in a way, but I know that those girls 
are all right, Hippy,” declared Tom with a ring 
of confidence in his tone. “ I know Grace and 
I know Elfreda, and I know that those two can 
get out of trouble almost as readily as they can 
get into it.” Tom smiled faintly. “What is 
San Antone proposing to do now? ” 

“ He is going to the Agency at Pine Ridge to 
start an inquiry from there.” 

“ I hope he hasn’t shot anyone in his excitement 
over this affair.” 

“ Not yet, but he walloped Chief Wild Tree, and 
threatens to go back and shoot him up later on.” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


85 


Emma was telling San Antone of their own ex¬ 
periences when she, Nora and Stacy were in the 
camp alone the previous night, of the shot that 
had been fired, the yell and the floundering, and 
that Tom that very morning had found blood 
out where the disturbance occurred. 

San Antone pondered over this information, 
then brightened. 

“ Miss Dean, I reckon you-all got a good friend 
’round heah somewhar,” he drawled. 

“ Two good friends, Tony. One is here now,” 
answered Emma. “You will find Grace and 
Elfreda, won’t you? ” 

“ I’ll nevah stop until I do, Miss Dean,” re¬ 
plied San Antone. “ I say, Lieutenant, you-all 
bettah keep an eye out fer the feller thet’s been 
imperillin’ the lives of this heah outfit by shoot¬ 
ing so promiscous-like ’round this camp. Miss 
Dean, if you-all will fix me up some grub, I reckon 
I’ll be on my way.” 

Nora hurriedly made coffee while the guide was 
saddling two fresh ponies, one to be ridden, the 
other led. Emma began to fry bacon, but San 
Antone would not wait for it. Instead, he gulped 
down two cups of coffee and filled his kit with 
biscuit and tinned beef, then, mounting, rode 
away. Hippy and Tom were disappointed that 
the guide did not wish them to accompany him, 
but San Antone said he had his reasons for this. 


86 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ He is himself a savage,” declared Tom. 

“ Savage he may be, but that fellow is a man, 
Tom Gray,” defended Emma Dean. 

“ I agree with you,” added Hippy, nodding his 
approval of the sentiment. 

“He is too sudden, that fellow is,” declared 
Stacy, who up to this moment had listened wide- 
eyed to the discussion that had been going on. 
“ I am glad, though, that he hit that Indian chief 
a good wallop. I had been thinking of going 
back there and doing the same thing myself,” 
added the fat boy boastfully. 

There was nothing more that the Overlanders 
could do for the missing ones so far as present 
conditions indicated, so they began their prepara¬ 
tions for dinner, to which they sat down in 
thoughtful silence. 

In thfe meantime Grace Harlowe and Elfreda 
Briggs were far off in the Hills, weary, hungry, 
and at times discouraged. 

As they fled from the old smelter they had no 
idea where they were going. Their one thought 
was to get away from there, but ere they could 
do so bullets began to whistle about them, bullets 
fired from the revolver of the fellow who had 
sought to get information from them. 

The girls ducked low and changed their course 
and were soon out of immediate peril. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


87 


“We shall be tracked! ” gasped Grace. “We 
must try to cover our tracks. Look for a water¬ 
course. Never mind which way we go.” 

They found no water-course, but fortunately 
soon gained rocky footing and thence proceeded 
with great care, trying to break down no bushes 
nor to leave a footprint in soft ground that was 
occasionally encountered. * 

“ Loyalheart! How long do you think we 
shall be able to keep this up? ” complained 
Miss Briggs. 

“ Until we get to camp,” answered Grace 
resolutely. 

“ But to-morrow those terrible people will find 
us. They have ponies and can easily overtake 
us once they find our trail.” 

“We will hide for the greater part of the day 
and get our bearings for the night’s journey. I 
am inclined to believe that we are traveling in 
the general direction of our camp right now.” 

They continued on, now traveling less rapidly, 
laying their course by the stars so far as they were 
able to do so, getting many falls, experiencing 
frights when some small animal suddenly leaped 
across the way ahead of them. The night was 
chill, but they did not feel it, for their bodies 
were glowing from the strenuous exercise. 

Finally Elfreda fell into a stream of icy moun¬ 
tain water, and uttered a little shriek. Grace, 


88 


GRACE HARLOWE 


hearing the splash, ran to the assistance of her 
companion. 

“ Oh, this is frightful,” groaned Elfreda. 

“ Cheer up!” encouraged Grace, laughing in 
spite of herself. “ Water is what we have been 
looking for.” 

“Yes, but not to fall into,” grumbled Miss 
Briggs. 

“We are going to walk in this stream as long 
as possible, so make up your mind to get wetter,” 
answered Grace. “ First, I want a drink.” 

“ Not for me. I swallowed too much water 
when I fell into the creek,” declared Elfreda. 

A few moments later they were splashing cau¬ 
tiously down the stream, unable to move rapidly 
for fear of stepping into a deep hole or slipping on 
a moss-covered stone. In this way they pro¬ 
gressed until day began to dawn. As soon as they 
discovered this they halted for consultation, and 
finally decided to climb the side of the canyon 
through which they had been traveling, and 
spend the day on the higher ground. This prom¬ 
ised to give them a better view of the surround¬ 
ing country, and enable them to watch for the 
pursuit that they fully expected. 

They gained the top of the mountain just as 
the sun was rising. 

“ Look! ” cried Grace. “ Isn’t that the Crazy 
Jane peak that the guide pointed out to us? ” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


89 


“ It does look like it,” agreed Elfreda. “ Grace! 
I wonder — I wonder if it was the living Crazy 
Jane that we heard uttering those awful shrieks 
last night.” 

“ It may have been. Let's not talk about it. 
It gives me the shivers. I propose that we now 
have breakfast, and then lie down for a rest.” 

“ Breakfast! ” exclaimed J. Elfreda. “ Be good 
enough not to tantalize me. I have an appetite 
such as Stacy Brown never dreamed of.” 

“ Just imagine that you have had a nice break¬ 
fast of eggs on toast and a cup of delicious coffee, 
and then lie down and you will sleep like a child 
after it has swallowed a bottle of sterilized milk.” 

“ Don't! ” begged Miss Briggs. 

“ Let me compliment you, too, on the wonderful 
way you helped us to get away, and for your 
remarkable marksmanship as exhibited last night. 
Tell me, J. Elfreda, did you really shoot at the 
lantern? ” teased Grace. 

“ No. I tried to hit the man in the leg,” con¬ 
fessed Elfreda. “ Instead I hit the lantern as he 
held it above his head.” 

“You surely can qualify as a sharpshooter,” 
chuckled Grace. “ Lie down and rest now. I 
think I shall take forty winks myself.” 

The “ forty winks ” stretched out until late in 
the afternoon, when Grace suddenly sat up, a 
startled look in her eyes, then called to her com- 


90 


GRACE HARLOWE 


panion. Elfreda aroused herself with an effort, 
and sank back wearily. 

“ Loyalheart! I fear. I am all in,” she groaned. 

“Nonsense! Let us now plan for the rest of 
our journey. I believe we shall be wise to head 
for the ‘ Crazy Jane ’ peak along towards night, 
and keep going until we reach familiar ground. 
We can, I think, by moving cautiously, follow this 
ridge for the present, but we must keep out of 
sight as much as possible.” 

Elfreda agreed wearily. 

“ I must have water. My throat is parched,” 
she said. 

After a search and failure to find a spring, the 
girls started on. An hour later they found water 
trickling from a crevice in the rocks, and threw 
themselves down and drank freely. It refreshed 
them very much and gave them new courage to 
press on. As they slowly progressed, the ridge on 
which they were traveling took a gradual dip to¬ 
wards the valley beyond, the valley that Grace 
believed would lead them to a trail for the camp. 

As night approached they increased their pace 
and by dusk were well down in the valley. 

“I smell smoke! ” cried Elfreda, shortly after 
they had gained the lower lands. A long inhala¬ 
tion told Grace that her companion was right. 

“ Let us find it,” urged Miss Briggs. “ I must 
have food.” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


91 


“ We can at least have a look. Should the fire 
belong to Indians, we simply dare not take the 
chance of letting them see us,” reminded Grace. 

The girls pressed on rapidly now, not in the 
general direction that they thought their camp 
lay, but following the smoke scent, which was not 
difficult, for a gentle breeze was blowing it directly 
towards them. In half an hour after the first 
indication of human habitation they heard dogs 
barking and the distant sound of voices. 

From then on they proceeded with greater 
caution, continuing on until the campfires of an 
Indian village were revealed to them. 

“Elfreda, it won’t do. I don’t dare go on,” 
whispered Grace. “ Come! Let us get away from 
here as quickly as possible. I —” 

A sudden scream from Elfreda checked the 
words on the other girl’s lips, as a heavy hand 
was laid on Miss Briggs’ shoulder. 

Grace whirled and her heart sank when she 
found herself facing two Indians, one of whom 
held Elfreda in a firm grip. 

“We no hurt. You come see chief,” com¬ 
manded the second Indian. 

“ Let go of me! ” cried Elfreda excitedly, strug¬ 
gling to free herself. 

“You come, let go,” answered Miss Briggs’ 
captor. 

There was no other course to follow, so the 


92 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Overland girls walked on ahead of the bucks who 
undoubtedly had been posted as sentinels just 
outside the camp. 

Such a chatter as went up from the squaws 
when the girls were led into the light of the village 
fires they had never before heard. Not only this, 
but black eyes snapped menacingly as the squaws 
got a good look at their unwilling visitors. 

The chief came out to learn the cause of the 
uproar. Though the Overland girls did not know 
it, it was Chief Wild Tree whom, a few hours 
previously, San Antone had knocked down with 
a blow from the butt of his revolver. 

“ Oh, Elfreda! I believe one of those squaws 
was the one that captured me! ” whispered Grace. 

“ What you want? " demanded the chief, his 
piercing black eyes seeming to look them through. 

“We wish to be directed to the camp of the 
Overland Riders where we belong/' answered Miss 
Briggs. 

“ Why you peek on camp? ” persisted the chief. 

“ Because we were lost and hungry and wished 
to see if we dared ask for assistance," volunteered 
Grace. “We will go on, if you please." 

“You stay. You—" The words died on the 
lips of the roving Sioux chief, and his gaze, leveled 
at some object back of the Overland girls, as¬ 
sumed a new expression. 

“You go! Me no want here. Me good 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


93 


Indian — all good Indians/' he announced in a 
louder tone. 

Grace and Elfreda instinctively turned to see 
what had wrought this sudden change in the 
chiefs tone and attitude. 

A man, a white man, livid of face, his eyes 
blazing, his shoulders hunched slightly forward, 
stood looking over their heads into the eyes of 
Chief Wild Tree. There was fear in the eyes of 
the chief. 

“ San Antone! ” cried Grace Harlowe in a shrill, 
high-pitched voice. 

“ Oh, Tony! We are so glad to see you/' wailed 
Elfreda hysterically. 

Both girls ran to the guide, but his eyes seemed 
blinded to their presence, and thrusting them 
aside with a wave of the hands, he walked between 
them, slowly stepping towards the chief. 

“ So? Ye did lie to me, did ye? ” drawled the 
guide. “ I told ye thet I'd come back, but ye 
didn't look fer me so soon, eh? Ye low-down 
cayuse, you-all know what I'm goin' to do to ye 
now. I’m goin’ to shoot ye till you-all’s daid.” 

“ Tony! " screamed Elfreda, throwing herself 
on San Antone, with all her strength gripping the 
hand of the guide as it jerked his weapon from 
its holster. 

There was a sharp report and Chief Wild Tree 
half turned, and pitched forward on his face. 


94 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER IX 

RED WOLF GIVES WARNING 

4 4 £“^TOP! Oh, stop! You've killed him! ” 
begged Grace, adding her strength to 
^ Elfreda's in an effort to hold the gun- 
hand of San Antone. 

“ I reckon I didn't, but I'm goin’ to,'' drawled 
the guide. “ You-all spoiled my aim," he added, 
directing his voice to Miss Briggs. “ The bullet 
jest grazed his haid, but the next ain't goin' to 
graze nothin’ — it's goin' clean through! " 

“ No, no! " protested Elfreda. “ Listen to me, 
Tony. Listen, I tell you! This man has done 
nothing to us as far as we know. We were trying 
to find our way back to camp and came upon 
this Indian village. We were caught spying on 
them and led into their camp just a few minutes 
ago," went on Elfreda rapidly. 

The guide made no reply. His face was set 
and sullen, and his eyes left that stretched-out 
figure on the ground only to take a swift com¬ 
prehensive glance at the sullen faces of the braves 
and squaws. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


95 


“See! He is coming to. Now please come 
away. Take us back to camp for we have had 
nothing to eat since the day we left,” begged 
Elfreda. 

“ San Antone, if you were to do what you 
threaten, Emma Dean never would forgive you, 
and even worse than that might happen to you, 
for you know you have no right to shoot this 
man down in cold blood, bad as perhaps he may 
be,” reminded Grace. 

“ Do you-all think so, Mrs. Gray? ” he ques¬ 
tioned. “ I mean ’bout Miss Dean? ” 

“ I know so,” replied Grace. “ Come, take us 
home.” 

“Wal, I reckon I’d bettah*do thet. I got two 
ponies heah, and ye can both ride. Heah! ” 

The chief had gotten unsteadily to his feet. 

“ You-all,” drawled San Antone, addressing 
Chief Wild Tree. “ I reckon you-all can thank 
these young women that ye ain’t daid. Mebby 
I’ll do it yet,” he added, motioning to the Over¬ 
land girls to precede him out of the Indian village. 
In a few moments San Antone had assisted them 
into the saddles of the two ponies, then walking 
along beside them he listened to their story of 
the capture, their escape and so on up to the 
time of his arrival at the Indian village, which, 
he said, he had dropped in on hoping to catch 
the Indians unawares and learn something. 


96 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Take my word fer it thet those fellers was 
the ones thet did the trick. They knows thet I 
know it. I know ’bout these redskins. I never 
told ye, but I was stolen by some Sioux when I 
was a kid. I lived with ’em till I was fourteen 
years old, then run away an’ one day got to 
Texas. Then, years after thet, I come up heah 
an’ rode the hills, an’ tended cattle an’ — wal, it 
don’t make no difference now what I did. I 
knows Indians an’ I knows their language an’ I 
knows that these rovin’ bands an’ some others is 
bad Indians. Would ye recognize the white 
feller thet Miss Briggs shot at in the old smelter 
place, if you-all was to see him again? ” 

Miss Briggs was quite positive that she would. 

“ Thet’s good. We’ll get him mebby. I only 
hope I’m around when ye do see him. Heah! 
I’m so thick thet I fergit. Here’s my bag, an’ 
there’s some biscuit and things in it.” 

Elfreda uttered a cry of joy. 

“ Tony, you have saved my life! ” she ex¬ 
claimed. 

For the rest of the journey the girls devoted 
their attention principally to the food that the 
guide had given to them. Camp was reached 
sometime after midnight that night, and the 
Overland party, attracted by the shouts of the 
two returning girls, rushed out to meet them. 

It was a joyous occasion, and there was no 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


97 


sleep in the camp until late that night. Emma 
Dean was especially pleased when Grace told her 
that it was the mention of Emma’s name that 
brought San Antone to defer shooting Chief Wild 
Tree until another day. San Antone got a radi¬ 
ant smile for that, but he stammered and flushed 
when Emma tried to make him promise not to be 
so hasty with his weapons thereafter. 

“ I can’t fight. I don’t know how, so what is a 
feller to do ’cept use his gun when he’s mad at 
another feller? ” demanded the guide. 

“ Tony, your philosophy — your logic, I might 
say — is almost as convincing as Stacy Brown’s. 
But Stacy is a child, and you are a man, so we 
can’t make the same allowances in your case. I 
can promise you one thing, and that is if you 
aren’t good hereafter I shan’t like you-all any 
more,” finished Emma, using the guide’s vernac¬ 
ular and imitating his southern drawl so suc¬ 
cessfully that not only the Overlanders but the 
guide himself laughed heartily. 

Sleep that night was brief but sound. San 
Antone was up early, and, on his way out to water 
the horses, he halted suddenly and gazed down at 
an imprint in the soil at his very feet. The im¬ 
print was that of a man’s boot, plainly made 
sometime during the previous night. San An¬ 
tone frowned heavily and followed the boot-prints 
some distance from camp, where he lost them. 


7 - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


98 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I reckon Miss Dean is goin’ to be disappointed 
in you-all, San Antone. I reckon she is, ’cause 
somebody’ll fool ’round this heah camp once too 
often, an’ bein’ as I can’t fight, I shore will hev 
to use my gun,” he soliloquized, turning back to 
camp. San Antone, however, said nothing to 
the Overland Riders about his early morning 
discovery. 

After breakfast the party started out. That 
day Hippy Wingate shot a small bear, and bear 
steak was in order for dinner that night. The 
following two days were passed without incident, 
during which neither white man nor Indian was 
seen. Even the Man in Black seemed to have 
deserted them. San Antone did not know 
whether to feel relief or regret at the lack of 
excitement. 

It was on the third night after that, however, 
after the Overlanders had finished their dinner 
of smoked bear meat and coffee, and darkness had 
settled over the mountains, that something un¬ 
looked for did occur. They were encamped in a 
broad canyon where the air was cool and the blaz¬ 
ing campfire brought cheer to the party, drawing 
forth stories of the war in which most of them 
had participated. Hippy was relating an inci¬ 
dent that occurred to Grace Harlowe when she 
was driving an ambulance in France when sud¬ 
denly Tom Gray uttered a sibilant “ Sh-h-h-h! ” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


99 


The soft scuff of moccasined feet was heard 
by all, and a new alertness flashed into the eyes 
of the guide as he got slowly to his feet, stretch- 
ing his arms and uttering a yawn. 

“Indians!” suddenly shouted Stacy Brown. 

“ Halt! ” commanded San Antone, leveling his 
revolver at a clump of bushes in which a slight 
movement had been observable. “ Advance, but 
be keerful how you-all do it,” he ordered. 

Following this command an Indian stepped 
from the clump of bushes and slouched slowly 
into the full light of the camp. His body was 
well hunched over in an apologetic attitude, one 
arm half raised as if to ward off a blow. 

Stacy and Hippy recognized the newcomer 
instantly. 

“Hello, Lady Bug! ” greeted the fat boy. 

“ It is the ‘ squaw ’! ” announced Lieutenant 
Wingate wonderingly. “ Texas, this is the squaw- 
buck that we rescued in Wild Tree’s camp.” 

“Stand whar ye be an’ let me look you-all 
over,” drawled the guide. 

The Indian crossed both hands over his breast 
in the sign of peace. 

“ Who is with you? ” demanded San Antone, 
this time in a more severe tone, to which the In¬ 
dian replied in the sign language. 

“ Is the man deaf and dumb? ” wondered 
Emma innocently. 


100 


GRACE HARLOWE 


The guide shook his head, then, the Over¬ 
landers having recovered from their surprise, 
looked the newcomer over more carefully. The 
girls uttered a peal of laughter. 

“Girls, girls! ” rebuked Stacy. “It isn’t good 
manners to laugh at a lady.” 

“ No, don’t make fun of him,” begged Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate. “ He has already suffered suf¬ 
ficient humiliation. San Antone, see if you can 
find out what he wants.” 

The squaw-man as he stood slouched over be¬ 
fore the fire presented a ludicrous but pathetic 
figure. He was clad in a soiled shirtwaist, his 
feet shod in old moccasins. Underneath a ragged 
blanket, and below a leather strap that belted 
the blanket, hung a tattered petticoat of fringed 
buckskin. The soiled calico waist bulged out 
from the gaping blanket above the waist. The 
“ squaw’s ” head was uncovered, revealing a mop 
of long, coal-black hair. San Antone saw what 
the others did not appear to see — bruises on the 
face and a livid mark over the forehead. 

“ Who are you? ” demanded the guide. 

“Me squaw.” 

“ I know thet. What’s you-all’s name? ” 

The Indian answered in his own tongue, rather 
to the surprise of San Antone, who could not 
imagine how the fellow knew that he could un¬ 
derstand Sioux. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


101 


“ He says thet his name, before his disgrace, 
was Red Wolf. He is now known only as the 
1 squaw-buck.’ ” 

“ Judging from the way he crosses his legs, 
I should say that he is a sawbuck,” observed 
Stacy. 

“ Be quiet, little boy! ” reproved Emma. 

“ He says he has no right to the name Red 
Wolf now,” continued the guide, following a 
series of guttural explosions on the part of the 
Indian. 

“How cruel!” cried Nora. 

“ What did he do to cause his disgrace? ” asked 
Miss Briggs. 

“ He says thet he fainted away at a secret fire 
dance after he had got so many wounds thet it 
weakened him,” San Antone informed them. 

“ Is it possible that such cruel practices are 
still indulged in? ” wondered Tom Gray. 

“Yes, when the Agent ain’t lookin’. If the 
Government finds out ’bout it, it treats ’em 
rough, though, but he don’t dare complain to the 
Government for fear the bucks will kill him.” 

“ Horrible! ” murmured Grace. 

“ I reckon the redskins don’t think so. A lot 
of the tribes air doin’ this an’ worse. Squaw! 
What do you-all want ’round heah?” 

Red Wolf did not appear to hear. At least he 
did not heed. He had, little by little, crept up 


102 


GRACE HARLOWE 


to Lieutenant Wingate, and crouching down on 
his haunches now gazed up into the face of the 
Overlander with worshiping eyes. 

“How! ” said the Wolf. 

“ How’dy, old man,” answered Hippy jovially, 
smiling down into the battered face before him. 

“ Squaw-buck much like white man. White 
man brave warrior. Sioux-man ’fraid no man, 
Afraid white man. How you call? ” 

“ He means what is your name? ” interpreted 
the guide. 

“ Hippy.” 

“ Me call um Big Medicine.” 

“ Who is your big chief? ” interrupted San 
Antone. 

“ Buffalo Face him chief.” 

“ That old scoundrel, eh? ” drawled the guide, 
giving his belt a hitch. “ Is he out hunting? ” 

Red Wolf nodded. 

“ When squaw-buck get be brave buck mebby he 
kill um Buffalo Face,” said the Indian stolidly. 

“ Serve him right if ye did. Anyhow the old 
rough-neck ought to be in jail.” 

“ Why? ” asked Grace. 

“ ’Cause he’s an old villain. He makes ’em 
think he’s friendly to the Government, an’ the 
Government believes thet he stands ’tween it 
an’ trouble with his people. Thet’s whar they 
guess wrong, and all the while old Buffalo Face is 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


103 

gettin’ rich an’ causin' all the trouble in this heah 
neck of the woods. Well, what do you-all want? ” 

“ Me stay Big Medicine. Mebby Buffalo Face 
try kill Big Medicine.” 

“ Do you mean that you are going to stay with 
us?” questioned Grace. 

“ Squaw-buck here now; squaw-buck here to- 
mollow. Mebby squaw-buck here all time.” 

“ You-all got another guess comm’, Squaw. We 
can't nohow be bothered with Indians. If thet’s, 
all you-all got to say, get out! ” 

“Wait!” commanded Lieutenant Wingate 
in an authoritative tone of voice. “Red Wolf, 
do you want to stay here to-night? ” 

The “ squaw ” nodded. 

“All right, if no one objects I’ll give you a 
blanket and you can tuck yourself away in our 
supply tent,” agreed Hippy. 

“ Sleep by fire bymeby,” grunted the Indian. 

“ How do you know he isn’t a spy from the In¬ 
dian village? ” questioned Tom. 

“ Thet’s what I’ve been trying to make up my 
mind ’bout,” answered the guide. 

“Would he be likely to do a thing like that 
after what we did for him? ” wondered Hippy. 

Tom said it was more than probable that the 
“ squaw ” would, as a means of restoring him¬ 
self in the eyes of his tribe, but the guide now was 
of a different opinion. It was plain that Red 


104 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Wolf worshiped Lieutenant Wingate and Stacy, 
and that thenceforth he would be their devoted 
slave, so the Indian was rather reluctantly ac¬ 
cepted as the Overland Riders' guest for the 
night. They gave him food, a warm blanket, and 
Red Wolf, without waiting until the others turned 
in, wound himself in the blanket which he drew 
tightly over his head, lay down by the fire and 
went soundly to sleep. 

San Antone kept the Indian under observa¬ 
tion until nearly morning, during which time the 
“ squaw ” never stirred. As a result of his late 
hours, the guide was also late in getting up next 
morning, and Stacy, awakened by mosquitoes, was 
the first to emerge from his tent, rubbing his eyes 
and grumbling under his breath. 

“ Morning, ‘ Sawbucks ’! ” he called, glancing 
over at the Indian, who lay motionless just as 
they had left him the previous evening, tightly 
rolled in his blanket. 

“ What’s thet? ” San Antone was wide awake 
on the instant and sitting up. 

“ I am talking to ‘ Sawbucks,’ ” replied Stacy. 

“ I reckon it’s time the critter got up,” yawned 
the guide. 

“ That is what I was thinking. I never thought 
that Indians were such sleepyheads. Hey! 
Wake up! The way you sleep, anybody would 
think you were dead.” Two moccasined feet pro- 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


105 


truded from beneath the blanket, and possessed 
of a sudden idea, the fat boy grabbed them and 
began hauling their owner out. 

The man under the blanket suddenly threw it 
off and sat up. 

“Wha — wha — at! Oh, wow! ” howled 
Chunky, springing back, his eyes wide and staring. 

It was not the Indian that his startled eyes 
saw. Red Wolf had disappeared, and in his place 
sat a white man gazing up into the eyes of the 
young Overland Rider. 


106 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER X 

ON THE TRAIL OF THE “ DO-DO ” 

T HE Overland Riders, awakened by 
Stacy Brown’s shout, ran out rubbing 
the sleep out of their eyes. 

“It’s the Man in Black!” called the boy. 
“The Indian has turned into a white man. 
Wow! ” 

“ Stranger, I reckon we’ve got you-all now! ” 
drawled San Antone, standing threateningly over 
the queer-looking figure of the Man in Black. 

The visitor wore the same long black coat, the 
big-rimmed smoked glasses, as when first dis¬ 
covered, and as he regarded the guide he replaced 
on his head the same lidless straw hat that 
Stacy and Emma of the Overland party had 
seen before. 

“ Howd’y, folks,” greeted the man. “ Glad to 
meet ye. I’m Professor Black, and — ” 

“Get up an’ let me hev a look at ye! ” com¬ 
manded San Antone, as a gentle reminder press¬ 
ing the muzzle of his revolver against the neck 
of the strange caller. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


107 


Professor Black gave no heed to the cold 
muzzle which he must have felt. 

“ I’m a rock-picker, and — ” 

“Good job. There are lots of rocks in this 
country, but I don’t reckon you’ll be able to pick 
them all up in your lifetime,” observed the fat 
boy. 

“ He means that he is a geologist,” interjected 
Tom Gray. 

“ Bright mind, bright mind,” twinkled the 
professor. 

“Did you really change from an Indian into 
a white man? ” questioned Emma so innocently 
that the professor joined the Overlanders in a 
hearty laugh. San Antone, however, did not 
laugh. He was regarding the visitor with scowl¬ 
ing face and suspicious gaze. 

“ Sh-h-h-h! ” warned the professor. “ Mention 
not the roving Sioux, for even the animals of the 
Hills have ears,” he added, rising, taking up from 
beside him a stout canvas bag. “My bag of 
tricks,” he explained. “ Precious samples of 
rocks from the Hills.” 

“ Rocks? Is that really what you are after up 
here? ” questioned Emma Dean shrewdly. 

“Sh-h-h-h! You are clever. Draw near and 
I will confide in you — tell you-all, as San An¬ 
tone would say, a dark secret. Rock is not all 
that I am in search of.” The professor glanced 


108 


GRACE HARLOWE 


about him apprehensively, leaned closer to Emma, 
and in a loud whisper, added, “ I am in search of 
the terrible Ippy Do-Do, the monster of the Hills, 
the most ferocious beast that ever preyed on 
human kind.” 

“ Mercy! ” gasped Emma. 

Stacy’s eyes grew large. San Antone ran the 
fingers of a hand through his shock of black hair, 
and the rest of the party were heard to utter soft 
chuckles. 

“ And, when you find him, what then? ” grinned 
Tom. 

“ I shall smite him with my little hammer, so, 
and so, and so! ” threatened the professor, draw¬ 
ing a small geologist’s hammer from his bag and 
with it beating an imaginary Ippy Do-Do to the 
ground. “ Tell me! Have you chanced to catch 
a glimpse of this terrible monster on your 
journeys in the Hills? ” 

“No, I believe not,” answered Grace laugh¬ 
ingly. 

“ Mr. Brown, our child member of the party, 
shot a beast the other day, but it turned out to 
be a cow — a heifer, I believe it is called,” Emma 
soberly informed him. 

“ Ah! Who knows but that was a real Ippy 
Do-Do in disguise. Be cautious — ever on the 
alert, and, 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


109 


" ’Ware the brown-eyed heifer 
With the soft and silken tail, 

For the female of the species 
Is more deadly than the male,” 

finished this strange human, describing a circle 
in the air with his hammer, which, in its down¬ 
ward sweep, grazed the arm of San Antone. 

The guide jumped back. 

“ Stranger, IVe throw’d a gun fer less than 
thet,” he drawled. “ It’s my opinion thet you-all 
air crazy, an’ somehow you-all hev got me plumb 
locoed. We ain’t got no place fer crazy duffers 
like you, so you better be on you-all’s way. An’ 
if you come across that Do-Do thing, you hit 
him hard with the hammer an’ let me know ’bout 
it, ’cause I’m plumb scared of thet critter,” 
drawled San Antone, which sally brought a shout 
of laughter from the Overlanders. 

“ There are still other perils in the Hills,” re¬ 
minded the visitor soberly. “ There are those 
who would do you injury. It is well to be on 
your guard and ever alert. And you, my dear 
young ladies, go not alone lest you again fall into 
evil hands,” warned the visitor, regarding Grace 
through his spectacles. 

“You-all knows somethin’ ’bout thet, hey?” 
demanded San Antone sharply, taking a step 
towards the professor. 


110 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I know many things — many that are hidden 
to the average mortal. One great secret of nature, 
however, is hidden from me, but I shall prove it. 
I shall yet discover the haunts — the lair of the 
terrible Ippy Do-Do. And when I do — ” The 
professor raised his hammer, whereat San An- 
tone stepped quickly back out of harm’s way, 
but the professor merely dropped the hammer 
into his specimen bag, and giving the neck of 
the bag a twist, threw the receptacle over his 
shoulder. 

“ Don’t go. Stay and have breakfast with us, 
old man,” urged Hippy cordially. 

“ Yes, do,” cried the Overlanders. 

“ Who knows but that you may find the long- 
lost Ippy Do-Do right here in our camp. I have 
a grave suspicion, in the light of what you say, 
that we at least have an offspring of that strange 
creature in our midst,” declared Emma Dean, 
casting a quick, mischievous glance at Stacy 
Brown. 

This raised another laugh, and a broad grin 
overspread the countenance of San Antone. 

“San Antonio, Texas, are you a ‘ Do-Do’?” 
demanded Chunky, solemnly eyeing the guide. 

“ I reckon thet mebby I might be most any¬ 
thin’,” answered San Antone a little doubtfully. 
“ I’m so locoed already thet I don’t reckon much 
’bout anythin’.” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


111 


“ Will you stay and eat with us? ” urged Miss 
Briggs. 

“ I thank you. I must be on my way — the 
way that leads to the everywhere and the no¬ 
where — for it is said that the early mom is the 
hour that the monster may be expected to be 
abroad. I bid you farewell.” 

The strange creature, well bent over under the 
load of rocks that his bag was supposed to hold, 
trotted away, and as he left the camp behind him 
he began to sing: 

“For the Ippy Do-Do is a rare old bird, 

A rare old bird is he. 

Ippy-dippy di; Ippy-dippy do, 

Ippy-Dippy Do-Do dee.” 

His voice soon trailed away into a distant mur¬ 
mur, then was lost altogether. 

The Overland Riders looked at each other, then 
burst out laughing, but San Antone, recovering 
from his amazement, uttered an exclamation and 
started to follow Professor Black. 

“ Tony! Come back here. Where are you go¬ 
ing? ” demanded Tom Gray. 

“Pm goin’ to wing thet bird. There’s too 
many things roamin’ ’round these heah Hills 
already,” called back the guide, breaking into a 
fast run. 


112 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XI 

“ BUFFALO FACE HIM COME! ” 

S he ran out the guide passed a thick 



clump of bushes just beyond the camp, 


and in these bushes lay Professor Black, 
chuckling to himself as the irate Texan sped 
past him. 

A few moments later, responding to the shrill 
calls for “Tony! ” uttered by Emma Dean, the 
guide returned red of face and surly, again pass¬ 
ing the hidden geologist, on his way into camp. 
Experienced trailer that he was, “ Tex ” was no 
match for the professor, who, after the guide 
had returned to camp, got up and walked calmly 
on his way, after having dumped all the “ speci¬ 
mens ” from his bag into the bushes. 

“Ill get thet bird next time! ” promised San 
An tone. 

“Now, Tony! Surely you would not shoot a 
person just because that person happened to be 
crazy, would you? ” teased Emma. 

“ I shore would, Miss Dean. The likes of thet 
bird ain’t safe to be let wander.” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 113 

“ Look here, San Antone. Listen to me! You 
are altogether too quick with your gun. Some 
day you are going to meet a fellow who is even 
quicker, then your good friends will be talking 
about ‘ how life-like 9 you look,” warned Lieuten¬ 
ant Wingate. “ The professor may be crazy, but 
at times some of us haven’t exhibited much 
greater sanity than he does.” 

“ Yes, I could name persons right here in this 
camp who possess much less sense than Professor 
Black,” averred Emma. “ But their fault is that 
they are brainless while he, poor fellow, may have 
plenty of brains — ” 

“But they got twisted, eh?” laughed Grace. 

“Dear people, you are all wrong,” spoke up 
Elfreda. “That man is no crazier than I am, 
and — ” 

“Fortunate man,” murmured Emma, where¬ 
upon the Overlanders had a hearty laugh at the 
expense of J. Elfreda. 

“ It is my opinion that Professor Black is far 
from being so crazy as he would have us believe,” 
continued Miss Briggs. “ I believe that he is 
assuming it for a purpose; and, somehow, at times 
I seem to catch a familiar note in his voice. Per¬ 
haps you folks observed that he pitches it rather 
high, but that occasionally he forgets himself 
and lets it down ever so little. That indicates ta 
me that the high voice isn’t his natural voice.” 

8 - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


114 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I agree with you,” declared Grace with some 
emphasis. 

“ Great head! Wonderful reasoning power,” 
observed Stacy Brown under his breath. “ When 
do we eat? We can't all wait to catch an Ippy 
Do-Do. What is that beast, anyway? ” 

“ There ain't no such thing,” interjected the 
guide heatedly. “ Thet’s all moonshine fodder.” 

“ That's so. We haven’t had breakfast, have 
we? ” cried Hippy. “ Strange that I should over¬ 
look a little matter like that. Nora, will you 
kindly see if there is anything loose about this 
camp? I’m famished and Stacy is almost speech¬ 
less ; he is weak from lack of food.” 

“ How fortunate! ” retorted Emma. 

At breakfast that morning the principal topics 
of discussion were Professor Black and Red Wolf, 
whose mysterious disappearance bothered the 
Overlanders not a little. Their conclusion was 
that the Wolf had gotten up and left early, and 
that the Man in Black had appropriated his place 
by the fire. 

After breakfast preparations for a resumption 
of the journey were immediately begun and the 
party soon were in their saddles. The day's ride 
was a pleasant one. Twice during the morning 
they saw smoke from camp-fires, which the 
guide studied frowningly, finally announcing that 
the smoke was not from Indian fires. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


115 


“Too much smudge,” averred San Antone. 
“An Indian fire is a small fire, an’ if there’s 
smoke it’s thin an’ white if there ain’t no wind. 
See thet cloud of smoke off yonder? ” he ques¬ 
tioned, pointing. “ Thet’s coal smoke from 
Deadwood.” 

“ Deadwood? ” wondered Chunky. “ I once 
read a book about a fellow by the name of Dead- 
wood. Let me see, what was it? Deadwood — 
Deadwood — ” 

“ Never mind, little boy. Your questionable 
literary tastes were better kept to yourself,” re¬ 
buked Emma. 

Deadwood lies in the deep gulches of the 
Whitewood and Deadwood creeks, not far from 
Fort Meade, and all that could be seen of the old 
mining town, until one were actually upon it, was 
the smoke from its chimneys. 

“ Why, this town seems to have caved in at the 
middle! ” exclaimed Emma as they rode into it 
later in the day. 

“ I was going to say that myself. You took 
the words out of my mouth,” objected Stacy 
sourly. 

“Perish the thought! ” retorted Emma airily. 

Deadwood they found, upon arrival, to be a 
typical mining town. Stamp mills and smelters 
were everywhere. The buildings along the main 
street were low, familiar types to the Overland 


116 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Riders who were coming to know their western 
country well. 

“ It ain’t the old Deadwood,” said San Antone. 
“In them days you folks would hev been doin’ 
a tenderfoot dance, with a dozen six-shooters 
kickin’ up the dust under your feet, long before 
this.” 

The Overland Riders were glad of the oppor¬ 
tunity to form a mental picture of the town 
that had been the scene of so much blood¬ 
shed and crime in the early mining days of that 
region. Their mental pictures they could easily 
visualize in the light of some of their own more 
recent experiences. 

The call at Deadwood lasted only long enough 
for the Overlanders to take on provisions, after 
which they climbed the mountain on the opposite 
side of the town, and for some distance, after 
reaching the top, they rode past rude mining 
houses, mills, pits, and holes in the ground, every 
foot of which had been prospected, and, in most 
instances, mined. 

“ Is there gold up here? ” questioned Chunky. 

“ I reckon thar’s tin here, but no gold,” an¬ 
swered the guide. 

“ I don’t want tin. It reminds me too much of 
my aunt’s kitchen.” 

Camp was made about fifteen miles from 
Deadwood. It was pitched on the side of a moun- 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


117 


tain, a rugged, lonely place that seemed a long 
way from civilization. Good water was found 
near at hand, and excellent browsing for the 
horses, which led the guide to decide to spend the 
night there. 

“Well, where is your squaw-buck, Tony?” 
asked Tom as they sat down to their dinner. 

“ Don’t worry. Reddy will be around to see 
me one of these days,” answered Lieutenant 
Wingate before the guide had opportunity to 
speak. 

“ I reckon we air lucky if he don’t come back 
with a party of regular bucks. Then we shore 
will hev some lively doin’s,” grumbled San 
Antone. 

“ If that be true perhaps it would be wise for 
us to hustle ourselves at once. Red Wolf is here 
now! ” announced Elfreda Briggs. 

San Antone bounded to his feet. Just beyond 
the row of tents stood the slouching figure of the 
squaw-buck. Red Wolf had made no change in 
his appearance, though his attitude did indicate 
that he had come far, and his hungry look showed 
that he wanted food. 

“ Hello, Lady Bug! ” greeted Chunky. 

“Who air heah with you?” demanded the 
guide brusquely. 

“Me come ’lone,” answered the Indian. 

“ Where did you get thet gun? ” The question 


118 


GRACE HARLOWE 


was put sternly. The Overlanders only then ob¬ 
served that their caller carried a rifle, which 
bucks in disgrace are not allowed to do. In this 
instance, Red Wolf carried the weapon with the 
muzzle trailing on the ground. 

“Me get um Buffalo Face.” 

“ Where is he? ” 

“ One, two sun away. Him come soon.” 

“You stole thet rifle, Squaw!” accused San 
Antone. 

“ Mebby. Mebby not so. You no care.” 

“No. I don’t give a rap ’bout thet. If you-all 
got it from old Buffalo Face, so much the better.” 

Red Wolf skulked and hunched himself up to 
Lieutenant Wingate where he crouched as on his 
previous visit, and said “ How! ” 

Hippy acknowledged the greeting. 

“ You say Buffalo Face is coming after 
us, Reddy?” he questioned. 

“ Um! Buffalo Face him come.” 

“ I suppose he is coming to drive us out of his 
preserves, eh? ” questioned Stacy. 

“ Ho! Mebby him shoot Big Medicine. Him 
mad. Wild Tree mad — all mad! Red Wolf 
know.” 

“ Coming here? ” exclaimed Elfreda. 
“When?” 

“To-mollow,” grunted the Indian. “You go! 
Him kill.” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


119 


CHAPTER XII 

A RED MAN’S GRATITUDE 

N ORA WINGATE uttered a wad. 

“ I reckoned on thet,” growled San 
Antone. 

“ So did I, and I believe this fellow is respon¬ 
sible for his coming/’ declared Tom Gray. 

“ No! Tom, he has come to warn us. Don’t 
you understand? ” rebuked Grace. “ No white 
man could show gratitude in a better way.” 

“ Never mind the gratitude part of this affair. 
The question before us is what shall we do? 
What does Buffalo Face want? ” he demanded, 
turning to the “ squaw.” 

“ Him want Big Medicine.” 

“ Do you not think it would appease his anger 
were we to turn Stacy over to him? ” questioned 
Emma with well-feigned innocence. 

The laugh that her suggestion caused quickly 
died away. 

“ Did they christen old Buffalo Face in Buffalo, 
New York, or did he get the name from the 
way you got his rifle? ” asked Chunky. 


120 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Red Wolf shook his head. 

“ Bucks him come hunting. Squaws and pa¬ 
poose go Agency,” grunted the Indian. 

“ Thet looks bad, sir,” declared the guide, 
turning to Tom Gray. “ If the bucks air gohT 
alone, leavin’ the squaws to follow another trail 
to the Agency, it means thet Buffalo Face an’ his 
braves air up to mischief. Of course mebby they 
air only gohT after game to keep them in fresh 
meat while they are at the Agency, or they may 
be gohT alone ’cause they are after somebody,” re¬ 
flected San Antone. 

“ Where can we be by that time? ” asked Grace 
Harlowe. “ I mean by the time this thing 
occurs? ” 

“ If we don’t move till momin’ we ought to be 
tother side of Sundance Mountain. Leastwise, 
I’m headin’ fer the Agency at Pine Ridge. 
They’s somethin’ goin’ on thar an’ I reckon 
mebby we’ll be interested in it. Does Buffalo or 
Wild Tree know thet you hev come this way? ” 
he demanded, turning to the Indian. 

“Not know.” 

“ Whar does he-all think ye air? ” persisted 
San Antone. 

“ Me sleep in Hills, get ’way from squaw. He 
know um.” 

“ Oh! He thinks you-all hev run away to the 
Hills to hide,” answered the guide scowlingly. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


121 


Red Wolf nodded gravely, arranging his skirts 
about his thin, muscular legs. 

“ Did you go back to your people when you 
left us? ” asked Lieutenant Wingate. 

“ Me go.” 

“ What fer? ” demanded the guide. 

“ Squaw-buck want know what Chief Wild 
Tree do. Mebby chief want make bad medicine 
for Big Medicine,” he replied, gazing up at 
Hippy. “ Me go Buffalo Face, too.” 

“ And you stole Buffalo’s rifle? ” chuckled 
Lieutenant Wingate. 

“You took it, borrowed it, helped yourself, 
appropriated the rifle. Is that it, ‘ Sawbucks ’? ” 
interrupted Stacy. 

“Me take um.” 

“Of course you did. He took um! ” Stacy 
nodded understanding^ to his companions. 
“What are you going to do with it?” 

“Not know. Mebby squaw-buck kill Buffalo 
Face! ” 

“ And mebby, if you do a thing like that, they 
will hang you at the Agency,” warned Miss Dean. 
“ I am not quite positive that I like this country. 
It is so unexpected.” 

“You said thet Buffalo Face could not get to 
us in less than one, two suns, mebby,” reminded 
the guide, still scowling at their visitor. “ Don’t 
you-all know thet he could make it in half thet 


122 


GRACE HARLOWE 


time? I reckon you-all made more’n forty mile 
in gettin’ heah, an' I reckon you-all didn’t run 
you-all’s laigs off doin’ it.” 

The “ squaw ” grunted. 

“ Braves no follow trail all way.” 

Grace asked what the fellow meant. San An- 
tone asked him in Sioux; then, as a guttural 
reply was made, the guide’s face relaxed into a 
broad smile. 

“ Thar’s strategy fer ye. I takes back all I 
said ’bout this heah redskin. He says thet he 
made a false trail — thet he left an Indian sign on 
a tree showin’ thet we had taken the lower trail 
to the southeast so thet we might hev open an’ 
easy travelin’ after we got past Deadwood. If 
he-all has done thet an’ the bucks don’t heah from 
their scouts thet it ain’t true, we’ll be a long way 
from heah by the time they wakes up.” 

“ Hurrah for ‘ Sawbucks ’! ” cried Chunky, 
tossing his hat in the air. 

“ Be quiet, child,” admonished Emma. 

“ Quiet nothing! Say, I’ll tell you what I’ll 
do, ‘ Sawbucks.’ I’ll lend you a pair of my pants 
and a shirt, but you’ve got to wash yourself be¬ 
fore you put them on.” 

“ Oh, Stacy, that’s fine of you,” approved Nora. 

The Wolf shook his head slowly. 

“ No take. Me squaw-buck.” 

“He dare not do it,” spoke up San Antone. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


123 


“He-all wouldn’t dare be seen in white folks’ 
clothes. If he war to do thet his people would 
know thet he had deserted them an’ some morniiT 
he’d be found daid. We’ll take his word an’ I 
reckon you better turn in. I’ll watch the camp.” 

“Me watch,” grunted the Indian. 

“ Is there no danger? ” questioned Nora appre¬ 
hensively. 

“ Squaw-buck here. Chief no come when Big 
Medicine him sleep. Squaw-buck him watch. 
Him kill Buffalo Face, Buffalo Face wake Big 
Medicine! ” 

“ He means he’ll keep watch through the night, 
an’ that if the chief comes foolin’ round heah an’ 
wakes up the lieutenant, he-all will kill the old 
ruffian.” 

“ Whatever you do, Mister Indian, please don’t 
make a mistake and hit this little boy,” urged 
Emma, turning towards Stacy. “ He is our most 
prized curiosity.” 

Laughing, despite the seriousness of their posi¬ 
tion, the Overland Riders began preparing for 
bed, with the understanding that a start was to 
be made as soon after daylight as possible. Nora 
reminded them that Red Wolf must be hungry. 

“No eat,” he grunted when asked if he had 
had his dinner. 

“ He probably hasn’t had much of anythin’ to 
eat since he was heah,” the guide informed them. 


124 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Red Wolf, being directed to go to the spring 
and wash his face, did so, dragging his rifle after 
him. He soon returned, his face dripping and 
water splashed all over him. Stacy regarded the 
bedraggled visitor with disapproval in his eyes. 

“ * Sawbucks,’ we didn’t tell you to take a bath. 
Why didn’t you dry your face and hands.” 

“Fire dry um,” grunted the “squaw,” edging 
up to the campfire. He preferred to sit by the 
fire and let the water dry in. This amused the 
Overlanders, though they managed to keep from 
laughing outright, not desiring to hurt the feel¬ 
ings of one who had done them so great a service. 

The Wolf ate ravenously. He did not take 
time to chew his food, but gulped it down whole. 

“ Do you always eat like that? ” questioned 
Emma. 

“ They all do,” said San Antone. 

After cleaning his plate, the Indian strode from 
camp without a word and was seen there no more 
that night. San Antone stalked him for some 
little distance, and watched until he saw the 
Indian take a position on a rock for a night’s 
vigil. The guide knew that it would not be well 
for any stranger to prowl about in that vicinity, 
so he returned and turned in. 

The camp was astir and under way before day¬ 
light next morning. A brief halt was made for 
luncheon. Up to that time there had been no 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


125 


Indian signs, nor had a single human being been 
seen. During the afternoon San Antone looked 
continuously for a suitable camping place, and 
about four o’clock he found what he was looking 
for, a site on a rise of ground, screened by rocks 
and commanding a wide view. There was water 
and excellent grazing for the ponies, and there 
they made their camp for the night. 

That night the guide, with Hippy Wingate, 
stood guard, but there was no need for their 
vigilance, for the camp was undisturbed; but on 
the following morning when Hippy went to the 
spring to wash his face he made a discovery that 
amazed him. Tacked to a stump just above the 
spring was a sheet of paper. As he read the warn¬ 
ing written thereon, Lieutenant Wingate uttered 
an exclamation. 

Without waiting to dry his face, the Overlander 
hurried back to his companions, waving the sheet 
of paper. 

“ Someone has been here!” he shouted. 
“ Listen to this, you amateurs:” 

Overland Riders! You are heading for 
trouble. Better change your course, bearing to 
the right. Go straight to Elkhom Ranch, then 
due east, avoiding gulches, keeping to the ridges. 
Indians on the trail you are following. Wild Tree 
and his tribe and others all heading for the 
Agency. Better take matters up with Indian 


126 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Agent when you reach there. Keep your guns 
loaded and your feet warm, and watch white men 
as well as Indians. Good luck ! 9 ” 

No name was signed to the mysterious message. 

“ I don’t like this mystery business,” declared 
Elfreda Briggs severely. “ Why should the writer 
desire to be so secretive? ” 

“ It’s that Do-Do man! ” averred Nora. “ He 
is crazy! ” 

“ I don’t believe it is that man at all,” differed 
Emma. “Had he anything to say, I reckon he 
would come right into camp and say it. It is 
someone else.” 

During breakfast the Overlanders held a con¬ 
ference over the warning, and chided Lieutenant 
Wingate and San Antone for permitting a prowler 
to come close to the camp and write a letter to 
them. The two men were considerably disturbed, 
and Hippy’s face was red, but that of the guide 
was surly. 

“ The very next time you two are so careless 
we shall be obliged to select someone else to act 
as sentry,” teased Grace. 

“ Ain’t goin’ to be no next time,” growled Tex. 

“ That doesn’t mean that you are expected to 
shoot up every person who calls on us,” reminded 
Emma. “You know it might be someone whom 
we very much wished to see,” she added amid 
laughter. 
































































IN THE BLACK HILLS 


129 


Before they had finished breakfast the Over¬ 
landers concluded to follow the suggestion of the 
unknown writer, and San Antone, after taking an 
observation, decided upon the route they should 
take. The Riders were under way soon after that. 

Sundance Mountain, a famous Indian landmark 
of the days of savage warfare, loomed into view 
shortly after the Overlanders had started out on 
their day's ride. By noon they were well into 
the cattle country, and during the afternoon they 
caught distant views of thousands of cattle graz¬ 
ing on the mountains and in the valleys. Here 
and there cattle outfits were met up with, the 
Riders in each instance inquiring if Indians had 
been seen, but none had been discovered by the 
cattle men. 

Sundance Mountain, rock-flanked, level-topped 
like a great stage, excited the wonder of the 
Overland Riders. They could almost fancy see¬ 
ing the Indians up there performing their savage 
religious dances in the days of long ago. Then, 
finally, in the very shadow of the mountain they 
came upon the little town of Sundance, but they 
remained there only long enough to purchase eggs 
and sufficient other fresh provisions to last until 
they reached the Agency at Pine Ridge. There 
were some Indians to be seen in the town, mostly 
squaws, but these appeared to give no heed to the 
strangers. 

9 - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


130 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Camp was made that day as the sun was sink¬ 
ing behind the Hills, and as they paused in their 
work of pitching the tents they observed the guide 
regarding the top of the mountain with interest. 

“ Smoke! ” he announced briefly, noting the in¬ 
quiry in their glances. 

Lazy, drifting curls of it waved high in the air 
over Sundance Mountain. The Overlanders, in¬ 
experienced in these matters as they were, could 
see that there was system in the intervals at 
which these wavy smoke-rings were being re¬ 
leased into the air. 

For some time no word was spoken, then 
Emma Dean, placing a hand on the guide’s arm, 
looked anxiously up into his face. 

“ What is it, Tony? ” she asked a bit uneasily. 

“ Indians! ” answered San Antone. “ Pack up 
in a hurry! I can’t be shore, but mebby the crit¬ 
ters hev discovered us.” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


131 


CHAPTER XIII 


STACY “SPILLS THE BEANS 



HERE are we going ^ 
Tom Gray anxiously. 


going? ” questioned 


* " “ Straight ahaid. We’ll make Elk 

Horn Ranch by sun-up if we air lucky, an’ thar 
we’ll be out of reach of the redskins. They won’t 
dare do nothin’ to us so close to the Agency. 
Don’t show no lights nor do any yellin’.” 

A brief hesitation followed the guide’s orders, 
then the Overland Riders sprang to the task of 
breaking camp and loading their equipment on 
the pack ponies. Darkness came on while they 
were still engaged in this work, but soon after 
that all was secure and the Riders were in their 
saddles, jogging slowly away, San Antone in the 
lead rigidly riding his saddle, alert, stern-faced 
and ready for trouble. 

The night was changing and sweetening the 
air, which had been close and trying all that day, 
but the minds of the Overlanders were too full 
of other things to give much heed to the fragrance 
of the air or the beauty of the night. 


132 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Hippy Wingate was at the rear of the line of 
the Overlanders, who were riding in single file, 
when suddenly a voice from the bushes close at 
hand startled him. Lieutenant Wingate’s re¬ 
volver was out of its holster in an instant. 

“Who is it? Speak quick or I’ll shoot! ” 

“ Big Medicine! Me squaw! ” 

“ Fiddlesticks! Reddy, one of these times you 
will get shot. You nearly got it as it was. 
Helloa, ahead there! Pass the word to Texas 
that Red Wolf is here.” 

“Where you go?” 

“Wait! The guide will be here in a moment. 
I will let him answer you. Here he comes, now. 
Tex, here’s Red, who wishes to know where we 
are going. You tell him.” 

“ You see um smoke? ” grunted the Indian. 

“ Yes. Whose war it? ” demanded the guide. 

“ Buffalo Face.” 

“ Is he up heah? ” 

The “ squaw ” shook his head. 

“ Buck him scout. Him try find Big Medicine 
in valley. Big Medicine on mountain. Him 
smoke no good. Big Medicine him sly like fox. 
Huh! ” 

“Then thet fellow making smoke signals on 
Sundance war a scout, eh? ” reflected San Antone. 

“ Ho! Chief Wild Tree him on other side 
mountain. Him look Big Medicine, too.” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


133 


“ They air on two sides of us, Lieutenant. The 
squaw don’t think thet Chief Buffalo got his 
scout’s smoke signals. Squaw, where is Chief 
Buffalo goin’?” 

“ Agency. Not know where Chief Wild Tree 
g°” 

“ So? We air goin’ to the Agency ourselves, 
Red.” 

“ Good! Me think mebby you go down in 
gulch. Wild Tree him catch there. Me come 
say go Agency way. Big Medicine much big.” 

“He thinks I did it all,” commented Hippy, 
laughing. “ How long before we shall be in the 
open? ” 

“ ’Bout two hours from heah. Then we’ll shore 
be all right. The redskins air ’fraid of their 
hides, an’ they won’t tackle us unless they can 
catch us nappin’ in a place whar they could get 
away with it. If the Government got them, they 
knows it would hang the lot of them. We’ll tell 
the Agent all ’bout what’s been doin’, eh?” 

“I think not. I shall have to talk with the 
rest of the party before giving you a definite 
answer. Tex, we have always fought our own 
battles, and I reckon we can do so now. Are you 
with us? ” 

“In a hoss race, Lieutenant,” drawled San 
Antone. 

Moving to the head of the line, after a “ How! ” 


134 


GRACE HARLOWE 


to the Indian, the guide waved to the Overlanders 
to follow along, they first having been informed 
of what Red Wolf had said. The Indian, how¬ 
ever, continued on with the outfit, but kept some 
distance to one side of them. He rejoined them 
shortly after daybreak next morning when they 
halted in the open to make camp for breakfast. 

While Red Wolf, squatting on the ground, ate 
his breakfast alone, his hosts plied him with 
questions. They learned that Buffalo Face had 
been lured from the real trail for a time, that 
he had sent out his scouts to search for the Over¬ 
landers in the Hills, but that he had not succeeded 
up to the time the smoke signals were made on 
Sundance Mountain. The probabilities were 
that he had not yet gotten the information for 
which he was seeking. 

“ Would he really fight us, do you think? " 
wondered Miss Briggs. 

“ Mebby fight for Big Medicine. You give um 
Big Medicine, no care 'bout other." 

“ Now that is exactly what we wished to know. 
It simplifies matters, indeed. We now know how 
to proceed to stop this hide and seek game we 
have been playing," averred Emma. 

“Eh?" wondered Chunky. 

“ All we shall have to do when the gentleman 
from Buffalo starts something is to give him what 
he comes for — give Hippy Wingate to him, then 


m THE BLACK HILLS 


135 


there will be nothing for him to fight for. Some 
of us might feel a little regret that it was Hippy 
instead of his nephew, but we might do worse. 
Hippy, shall I pack your kit for you and have 
everything in readiness? ” questioned Emma 
mischievously. 

“ The only kit that I shall need packed is my 
rifle, and I reckon I will pack that myself. Hey! 
Where’s Red? ” 

The Indian had disappeared while the Over¬ 
landers were directing their attention to Lieuten¬ 
ant Wingate, but before they could comment on 
his disappearance a horseman rode into camp, 
sweeping off his sombrero when he discovered 
that there were women in the party. 

“ Wal, Stranger, who might you-all be? ” 
drawled San Antone. 

“ I was about to ask you the same question,” 
answered the horseman laughingly. “ I’m Ben 
Jones, Superintendent of the Elk Horn Ranch. 
I saw smoke over here and thought maybe it 
was Indians. I was goin’ to tell ’em to be on 
their way. You’re welcome to camp on the Elk 
Horn Ranch as long as you wish,” he added, 
smiling and nodding at the Overland girls. 

Tom Gray stepped forward and introduced 
himself, and then introduced the rest of his party. 

“ And this is San Antone, our guide,” added 
Tom, waving a hand towards the Texan. 


136 


GRACE HARLOWE 


The superintendent gave the guide a quick, 
keen look. 

“ I reckon I’ve heard of you before, Bennett / 1 
he answered carelessly. 

“We were just eating breakfast, so sit right in 
with us / 1 invited Hippy. 

“ Don't mind if I do have a snack with ye. 
Where you headin'? " 

Grace told him who they were and why they 
were riding the Black Hills, and asked him if any 
Indians had been seen in that vicinity. Jones 
said no, but that one of his men farther west had 
seen a whole tribe of them heading for the 
Agency, and that another had made out what 
looked to be smoke signals on Sundance Moun¬ 
tain. 

“ What do you-all reckon they air goin' to the 
Agency fer? " asked the guide. 

“ There is to be a council there, some grievance. 
Beyond that I don’t know. I reckon, though, 
that there's somethin’ in the air, for I under¬ 
stand the council was called rather unexpectedly. 
Someone said Old Buffalo Face had been up to 
mischief, but I don’t know what it is. He’s a 
bad one.” 

“ I reckon thar’s some white men in these heah 
parts thet’s jest as bad,” volunteered San Antone. 

“ Yes. I reckon so,” answered Ben Jones, re¬ 
garding the guide with a wry smile, under which 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


137 


San Antone flushed. “ At least there are some 
strange stories told of them, including cattle¬ 
rustling. We’ve lost some stock that way from 
the ranges and our rangers are instructed to shoot 
any rustlers on sight.” 

“ You have a foreman named Oakley, haven’t 
you? ” asked Tom Grey- 

“ An assistant foreman,” corrected the superin¬ 
tendent. 

“ A fellow who claimed he was Oakley, but that 
San Antone said wasn’t, got run out of our camp,” 
volunteered Stacy Brown. 

“ How is that? ” 

“Well, it was this way,” went on Stacy, dis¬ 
regarding the warning glances of his companions. 
“ My Uncle Hippy Wingate and I were out hunt¬ 
ing, and we shot what we thought was a deer. 
It wasn’t a deer at all. It was a heifer.” 

“ What kind of a heifer? ” interjected the 
superintendent, instantly on the alert. 

“ A brown one. She had an ‘ E. K.’ brand on 
her right hip.” 

“ One of our strays! You don’t say? ” nodded 
Jones. 

“ Yes. And what do you think? We had no 
more than got back to camp before a fellow 
named Swinton came in claiming that we had 
shot his cow and wanted his pay for her. It 
seems he had bought her from your ranch and — 


.138 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Stacy, give Mr. Jones a chance to talk about 
something else,” suggested Emma Dean. “He 
isn’t interested in our personal affairs.” 

“ Well. We paid the fellow thirty dollars for 
the heifer and ten dollars more for the trouble he 
had been put to. It was after he had left that 
the other fellow claiming to be Jim Oakley put in 
an appearance, but San Antone knew he was a 
fake from the start, ’cause he knew Oakley by 
sight and — ” 

“ Young man, that critter didn’t belong to the 
Swinton party at all. She was a stray from the 
Elk Horn Ranch and we been lookin’ for her ever 
since. You say you shot her? ” 

“ I did. I broke her back with the first shot. 
I call that some shooting at her distance away,” 
answered the fat boy boastfully. 

“ Then seeing that you admit it, and while I’m 
sorry you got stung, I reckon it’ll cost you fifty 
dollars more, young man. That was a blooded 
animal that we reckoned on keepin’ and you’ll 
have to pay for her,” declared Ben Jones in a 
severe tone. 

“Oh, Stacy! You surely have spilled the 
beans,” muttered Emma under her breath, while 
Hippy Wingate was heard to mutter, “Poor 
fish! ” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


139 


CHAPTER XIV 

THE GATHERING OF THE BRAVES 

N embarrassed silence followed, then the 
Overlanders burst out laughing. 



X JL “Well, well! Fate plays strange 
pranks, doesn’t it? ” cried Hippy jovially. “ Of 
course we will pay for the cow, and we thank you 
for telling us that the animal belonged to you. 
Who is this fellow Swinton who collected the 
first payment for the beast? I think we should 
like to meet him.” 

“ What did he look like? ” questioned the 
superintendent. 

Hippy described the man, but Ben Jones 
merely shook his head. The description failed 
to identify the man. After breakfast, Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate handed over the money for the 
cow, saying he was thankful that he did not pay 
the second man who called at the camp demand¬ 
ing money for the animal. 

San Antone regarded the entire incident with 
scowling visage. He was angry. He considered 
that Ben Jones’ demands were an outrage after 


140 


GRACE HARLOWE 


the party had paid for the cow once, but the guide 
held himself in check. Soon after breakfast the 
superintendent bade the Overlanders good-bye, 
but urged them to accompany him to the ranch- 
house and have luncheon with him at noon. 
They declined. 

“You see we have an irresponsible boy with 
this outfit, and it really would not be prudent to 
let him go where there are so many cows. He 
might think they were deer,” explained Emma 
soberly. 

The Overland Riders’ chagrin was soon over¬ 
come by their saving sense of humor, and the 
last leg of their journey to the Agency was begun 
with all hands, except the guide, chaffing Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate and Stacy Brown for their he¬ 
roic achievement in killing a cow. 

Shortly after noon they rode out on an open 
rolling plain that stretched away for miles, and 
shortly after gaining the plain they began to see 
scattered groups of Indians, many with blankets 
drawn over their heads, riding leisurely towards 
the Agency. Some were on foot, the squaws 
staggering under the packs they were carrying, 
the bucks sauntering along with no burdens at 
all. 

“ Is there danger of their bothering us? ” ques¬ 
tioned Nora apprehensively. 

The guide shook his head. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


141 


“We air too near the Agency. They don't 
dare, but we'll look them over." 

“An Indian is the laziest mortal alive," de¬ 
clared Grace. 

“ With possibly one exception," corrected 
Emma, glancing carelessly at Stacy Brown. 

“ Oh, I don’t know. If the squaws are willing 
to tote the packs why should the bucks object? " 
asked the fat boy. 

“ I think you will now admit, folks, that my 
point is well taken," retorted Emma. 

The Indians appeared to give no heed to the 
white Riders, but the guide knew Indians, and 
thoroughly understood that the Overland Riders 
were under close observation. 

“ Thar's the Agency," he called out, late in the 
afternoon, pointing to a low frame building sadly 
in need of a coat of paint. Its windows, they 
found as they rode up, were smoky and dirty 
with the dust of the plain that seemed to be 
ground into the glass itself. In front of the 
building, nailed fast to the structure, were 
benches for waiting Indians to sit on. These 
benches were seldom empty. Bucks met there 
to loaf in the sunshine, to grunt out what they 
had to say, as well as to observe who was passing 
in and out of the Agency and to wonder why, 
for the Indian is a curious being, notwithstand¬ 
ing his appearance to the contrary. 


142 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Here and there the Overland Riders saw groups 
of tepees. Children played about them; squaws 
were seen packing bundles of dead wood from a 
grove near by, bent over under their heavy 
burdens. Their braves were smoking and grunt¬ 
ing about the campfires that were crackling be¬ 
fore each individual group of tepees, while the 
women were gathering and fetching fuel for these 
same fires. The Overland Riders looked on in 
strong disapproval. 

“ How I would like to give those lazy bucks a 
good sound thrashing,” declared Nora in¬ 
dignantly. 

“ Be careful, folks, thet you don’t stir up them 
Indians,” warned the guide. “ The Government 
lets them do ’bout as they please so long as they 
don’t walk over the line thet the big White Father 
in Washington has marked out fer them.” 

“ It is a pity that the White Father wouldn’t 
set them to work,” retorted Nora. 

“A lot of ’em do work,” the guide informed 
her. “ Others will never be nothing but savages. 
We’ll make camp in the grove whar the squaws 
is gatherin’ firewood,” he directed, heading off to 
the right towards the site indicated by him. 

“ While it ain’t strictly necessary, some of you 
folks better stop off an’ see the Agent. His name 
is Jones, too, but if he ain’t there, see his assistant, 
Comstock. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


143 


They found Mr. Comstock standing in front of 
the Agency with a group of Indians about him. 
He was listening to a story that a squaw was 
telling him about a sick cow. The Overlanders 
understood that she feared the cow would die. 
The Acting Agent told her. he was sorry, but that 
he was not a cow doctor. 

The Overland party had dismounted and 
stepped over to the group the better to hear the 
conversation. 

“ Pardon me, sir,” spoke up Emma Dean 
courteously. “ I understand the woman to say 
that she has a sick cow. We have a young man 
in our party who is something of a horse doctor. 
At least he has been quite successful with our 
ponies, though the only cow I know of his at¬ 
tending, died. I would suggest that he might be 
able, at least, to determine what ails the cow,” 
she added, indicating Lieutenant Wingate by a 
nod in his direction. 

Hippy’s face grew red, and the Overlanders 
chuckled. 

“ Is it far from here? ” persisted Emma. 

“ No. She has the animal with her, I believe.” 

Tom Gray at this juncture stepped forward, 
and, after introducing himself, did the same for 
the rest of the party. The Acting Agent shook 
hands cordially and said he would be glad to show 
them all there was to be seen at the Agency. 


144 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ But, about this cow, Mr. — Mr. Wingate. 
Would you really see what you can do for the 
woman? ” 

“ For the cow, not the squaw/' suggested Stacy. 

“ She is much distressed, and, being a poor 
squaw, cannot afford to lose the animal." 

“ I’m no cow doctor," exploded Hippy, then 
begged the Acting Agent's pardon. 

“ Yes. Go on. You can pass for a regular one 
whether the cow lives or dies," urged Miss Briggs 
laughingly. 

“ Is that the way you practice law?" de¬ 
manded Hippy amid the laughter of the Over- 
landers. 

“ Well, I must admit that we lawyers have to 
be rather expert guessers on occasions." 

“ Sure, my Hippy will look the cow over," 
promised Nora. 

“ Thank you!" The Acting Agent directed 
the woman to lead Lieutenant Wingate to the 
cow, which she started to do after first wrapping 
her head in a brightly colored blanket. 

The entire Overland outfit accompanied them, 
and as they walked away leading their ponies, 
the party was joined by bucks and squaws and 
children, all curious to see what the Big Medicine 
Man would do. 

“ This is a fine deal you folks have pulled off 
on me," protested Lieutenant Wingate. “ Emma, 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


145 


that is one that I owe you. Tex, please ask the 
woman how the beast acts.” 

This the guide did in Sioux, and Hippy listened 
with appropriate gravity to the answer that was 
returned to him. 

“ I think I know what ails her,” observed 
Hippy. 

“Do your prettiest, Hippy,” crooned Emma. 
“Remember, not only your own, but also the 
reputation of the Overland Riders depends upon 
your success. Stacy will hold her head while you 
are operating on the beast, won’t you, little 
boy? ” 

“ I will not! ” answered the fat boy angrily. 

They found the cow standing in a disconsolate 
attitude, nose lowered to the ground, wheezing 
like a leaky flue of a steam engine. 

“ Ask the squaw what she has been feeding the 
cow,” demanded Hippy after feeling the animal’s 
neck. 

“ She says nothin’,” the guide informed him. 

“ Get me two small pieces of wood and a stone 
that I can handle. I don’t suppose anyone has a 
hammer.” Once in possession of the desired ob¬ 
jects, Lieutenant Wingate placed a block of wood 
on either side of the cow’s neck at a point where 
a slight enlargement was observable, hit one 
block a sharp rap with the stone, then began 
massaging the neck with both hands. 


10 - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


146 


GRACE HARLOWE 


The cow gave a sudden cough and something 
shot from her mouth. 

“ A potato! Wal, I’m plumb beat ’bout thet,” 
exclaimed San Antone. 

“ Am I a cow doctor? Well, I reckon I am,” 
announced Hippy rather boastfully. 

“ Hippy, dear! Never in your life did you 
speak a truer word,” approved Emma. 

“ Tell that squaw that hereafter she had better 
cut up the potatoes she feeds to her cow,” di¬ 
rected Lieutenant Wingate. “ Why does she look 
at me that way? ” 

“ She-all thinks you-all is a magician, one of 
them sleight-of-hand fellers,” answered San 
Antone, grinning broadly. 

“ Huh! ” grunted Hippy, as they turned back 
to the Agency on their way to their camp site. 

“ Well, did you cure the cow? ” asked the Act¬ 
ing Indian Agent as they came up to him. 

“ Yes. The animal was choking on a potato in 
the windpipe,” answered Hippy. 

“She was? I reckon I’ll have to look into 
that. The only potatoes about here at this time 
of the year are those of my own private supply.” 

“ Perhaps you had better count your Murphys 
then, sir,” suggested Hippy. 

“So you cured the cow, eh? Well, well.” 

“Yes, he made her cough up,” volunteered 
Stacy, and Mr. Comstock laughed heartily. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


147 


“I prophesy that you will have your hands 
full if you stay around here. How long shall 
you be here?” 

Tom informed him that they probably would 
remain at the Agency a few days at least. 

“ I am glad of that. You will be here to see 
the Omaha, then. Perhaps you know that this 
is the native Indian dance. The Indians are 
coming in for it now. The dance will take place 
the day after to-morrow at night. I shall be 
pleased to have you folks take dinner with me 
this evening,” added the Acting Agent. 

Grace replied that they couldn’t think of im¬ 
posing on him to that extent, but that she and 
her husband and probably others of the Overland 
party would call at his home before they left the 
reservation. 

“Too bad that I don’t dance,” complained 
Stacy after they had left Mr. Comstock and were 
at work making camp in the grove. 

“Persons who have elephant feet seldom do 
dance,” replied Emma airily. 

“ Miss Dean, I’ll guarantee that I can out¬ 
dance you any night in the week. If I wished to 
I could dance you to death before the intermis¬ 
sion period,” retorted Chunky hotly. 

“I thought you just said that you couldn’t 
dance,” answered Emma sweetly. 

“I — I don’t. I mean I didn’t. I— What 


148 


GRACE HARLOWE 


kind of a fandango is this Omaha, Nebraska, 
affair? ” 

“ It is the native dance at which only the bucks 
take part,” answered the guide. “ I reckon you’ll 
think it’s the liveliest shindy thet you ever come 
up with. In the old days the braves used to 
dance the Omaha before goin’ out to meet their 
enemies. It kinder works up their enthusiasm, 
you know. Thar’s another name fer it — the 
Grass Dance. In those days the Indians used to 
go into battle with their bodies covered with 
bunches of grass. In thet way they sometimes 
could ambush them enemies by makin’ ’em think 
the bunches of grass they saw war real, an’ it’s 
thet thet give the Omaha the name of Grass 
Dance.” 

“Well, well. Look who’s here!” interrupted 
Stacy. “ If it isn’t our old friend ‘ Sawbucks.’ ” 

Red Wolf, with back humped, the picture of 
woe, was carrying a pack of wood on his back, 
each hand carrying a pail of water. His mourn¬ 
ing blanket had dropped from his shoulders, and 
was hanging from the belt, one end dragging on 
the ground behind him. 

“ Reddy is a squaw again,” exclaimed Hippy. 

“ I call that a burning shame! ” cried Nora. 

“Don’t speak to him,” warned San Antone. 
“ I reckon thet if he wants you-all to do so he’ll 
let you know. I wonder why he’s here. I don’t 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


149 


see anythin’ of Chief Wild Tree, an’ I’m right 
sorry ’bout thet. Mebby thet old critter is wait¬ 
in’ fer us to get out of the way. Somehow he 
don’t look to meetin’ up with me. I feel right 
cut up ’bout thet — I shore do,” drawled the 
guide, greatly to the amusement of his party. 

That Red Wolf had his own good reasons for 
being there, the guide well knew — the others did 
not, but they learned later. They learned 
further, too, to what extent the faithfulness of a 
grateful Indian could go. 


150 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XV 

STACY CHARMS “ MOON FACE ” 

AMPFIRES flickered and glowed in the 



darkness as night settled over the scene, 


and lights sprang up in the tepees. 
Dogs yelped, and the murmur of guttural speech 
was borne faintly to the ears of the Overland 
Riders. 

“ What a scene! ” breathed Elfreda Briggs. 
“ I never saw anything so fairy-like.” 

“ I should not say that there is anything par¬ 
ticularly fairy-like about it,” differed Grace 
laughingly. 

“ I know that. I am simply remarking the im¬ 
pression on one who never before has seen its 
like. It seems to me that there are now more 
tepees than when we came in.” 

“ Thar be,” agreed San Antone, who, in pass¬ 
ing the two girls, had heard Miss Briggs’ remark. 
u The braves air cornin’ in fer keeps now, an’ 
they’ll keep on cornin’.” 

“ Should not someone watch the camp to-night, 
Hippy? ” asked Grace. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


151 


“ Big Medicine him no watch! Squaw-buck 
him watch like owl in tree,” grunted a voice close 
at hand. The voice was directly behind Stacy, 
who gave a sudden lurch forward as if someone 
had pushed him from behind. 

“Look here, ‘SawbucksM Don’t be so con¬ 
founded sudden. Hereafter, knock before you 
enter. You nearly scared the wits out of me,” 
complained Stacy Brown sourly. 

“ Is Buffalo Face or Wild Tree here? ” de¬ 
manded San Antone. 

“No here. Buffalo Face him come. Mebby 
not till to-mollow; mebby not to-mollow.” 

“ Where is your rifle? ” questioned Lieutenant 
Wingate. 

The Wolf answered merely with a grunt. 

“ He knows better than to bring it here,” spoke 
up San Antone. “ The ‘ squaw ’ probably has 
hidden it in a safe place. Is thet what you-all 
did, Squaw? ” 

“Ho!” 

“ What air the Indians saying about us? ” per¬ 
sisted the guide. 

“ Squaw woman say Big Medicine heap medi¬ 
cine man. Make um moo—oo spit up sickness 
when could not.” The Indian gazed into Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate’s face, an expression of awe in 
his eyes. 

“He means that you are the champion cow 


152 


GRACE HARLOWE 


doctor of the Hills,” interpreted Emma, to the 
great amusement of the girls and the utter con¬ 
fusion of Hippy. 

“ If he does I must say he has a most un¬ 
pleasant way of telling it,” objected Miss Briggs. 

“ Red, I want you to do something for me. I 
want a tepee cloth to use for myself. Can you 
get one for me? ” asked Lieutenant Wingate. 

“Me steal um! ” promptly answered the 
Indian. 

“No, no! ” objected Nora. “You mustn’t do 
that. We wish to buy one, and will pay for it if 
you get a good one.” 

“ Me steal um,” insisted the “ squaw.” 

“Remember! No steal. I buy!” reminded 
Hippy. 

“ Me buy.” Red Wolf suddenly lifted his 
head and listened intently. The others heard 
nothing more than the ordinary noises of the 
Indian encampment, but the Wolf had caught a 
sound that stirred him. He sprang to his feet 
and slunk away without uttering a sound. 

The Overlanders were puzzled to know what 
the Indian had heard that served to drive him 
away, but even San Antone could not answer the 
question. The guide then piloted Grace and 
Tom to Mr. Comstock’s residence, where, after 
they had spent a pleasant and instructive even¬ 
ing, San Antone waited to lead them back to 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


153 


camp. The guide was very much on the alert 
during all the rest of the night, though nothing 
occurred to disturb the Overland camp. Keen 
eyes, however, were watching in the shadows of 
the grove all unsuspected by the sleeping Over¬ 
land Eiders or their guide. 

At an early hour next morning the party were 
awakened by a great chattering and grunting just 
outside of their tents. Not knowing what to 
make of it, but being certain that the racket had 
to do with them, they dressed hurriedly and went 
out. A most unusual sight was met with. 
Eully twenty squaws and several bucks were as¬ 
sembled in front of Lieutenant Wingate’s tent, 
San Antone observing them narrowly. The 
squaws began jabbering the instant they set eyes 
on Hippy. 

“ What’s this? ” demanded Hippy. “ Has this 
camp turned into a stock farm? ” 

The squaws were leading cows, pigs and calves, 
and here and there a pony. One was dragging a 
skinny goose by a string tied to its neck. 

“ They have come to see the cow doctor,” vol¬ 
unteered Emma, quickly comprehending the 
meaning of the scene. 

“ Thet’s right, Miss Dean,” spoke up San An¬ 
tone. “ Lieutenant, they say they’ve heard thet 
you air a big medicine man who makes sick cows 
well by the touch of your magic hand.” 


154 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“His magic hand! Ha, ha! Somebody hold 
me before I explode. Ha, ha; haw, haw! ” 
howled Chunky. 

“ Haw, haw! ” mimicked Emma. “ Perhaps 
Doctor Wingate may have something that is good 
for your species, too.” 

“ It would be good for us if you-all can do 
somethin’ fer ’em,” suggested the guide. The 
Overland Riders were convulsed with laughter 
over the new role that Hippy had been called 
upon to play. They were delighted, and Hippy 
well knew that he must expect a severe teasing 
all the rest of the summer. This thought 
decided him. 

“ All right, Tex. Tell them to bring on the 
live stock,” he directed. 

The guide beckoned to the woman with the 
sick goose, and Hippy looked the bird over wisely. 
He observed that it kept opening its mouth, its 
bill held high. This gave him an idea, and 
Hippy looked into the bird’s mouth, then called 
to Nora to fetch the small pliers from his kit. 

“ This is easy,” chuckled Lieutenant Wingate. 
When the pliers were in hand, San Antone was 
directed to hold the bird’s mouth open, and amid 
a great squawking and struggling he inserted the 
pliers, gave a quick pull and brought out a piece 
of cartridge shell. The goose, no doubt lured by 
its brightness, had tried to swallow it. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


155 


“ Happy day! Oh, happy day — for geese,” 
murmured Emma as Hippy carelessly handed the 
goose to the woman, directing her to take the 
bird home and give it some soft mash to eat. 

A sick cow was then led up to the Big Medi¬ 
cine Man. Hippy rolled up his sleeves. He 
was getting rather warm. The cow needed 
medicine, so he gave her a big dose of horse 
remedy. The cure was not as speedy as in the 
case of the goose, but on the following day Hippy 
had the satisfaction of learning that the cow was 
eating normally and evincing a real interest in 
life. A pony, he discovered, had driven a nail 
deep into its hoof. He extracted it skillfully. 

And so it went on for more than an hour until 
all the “ patients ” had been disposed of and the 
squaws had gone away happy, the bucks with 
many grunts, but whether of approval or dis¬ 
approval the Overland Riders did not know, 
but Hippy’s reputation as a big medicine 
man was established on that reservation for all 
time. 

During the night a city of tepees had sprung 
up, extending far out towards the limits of the 
Agency. Indians had come in during the night 
and had silently pitched their tepees. 

“ Buffalo Face is here! ” announced San An- 
tone after an early morning stroll among the 
villages. 


156 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Where? ” questioned Emma, to whom his re¬ 
mark had been directed. 

The guide pointed to a tepee, its peak deco¬ 
rated with a feather, an arrow painted on its 
side. 

“ Thet’s whar he lives, an’ his gang is campin’ 
right ’bout him. Thar’s the old critter’s 
daughter now. Moon Face, they call her.” 

“ What a funny name,” bubbled Nora. “ She 
is coming this way, too.” 

“Jest wanderin’ ’round out of curiosity,” said 
the guide. 

Moon Face halted before the Overland camp, 
her slowly roving eyes taking in every detail of 
the pale-face abodes. Then Moon Face, at¬ 
tracted by a splashing noise behind Stacy 
Brown’s tepee, where he had gone with a pail of 
water to bathe his feet after the mosquitoes had 
made them their playground through the night, 
peered around the tent. The instant she caught 
sight of the fat boy her eyes lighted with interest, 
and grew large and wondering. 

“Now look out for squalls. Oh, girls! Wait 
till Stacy discovers her,” chuckled Grace. 

“ Heap fine boy! ” crooned the Indian girl, 
whereupon Stacy for the first time became aware 
of her presence. He started up, his face red and 
disturbed. 

“Get out of here!” he ordered, waving his 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


157 


arms. “ I don’t like to have girls around when 
I’m attending to my family affairs.” 

Moon Face sat down and gazed soulfully at the 
disturbed Chunky. 

“ How you make so white — so big like bear? ” 
she wondered. 

“ None of your business! Will you get out of 
here? ” yelled the fat boy furiously. 

“ Stacy! Stacy!” remonstrated Emma. 
“ Don’t forget that you should always be polite 
to a lady.” 

“ I say, drive her away or I’m afraid I’ll be rude. 
Can’t a fellow be left alone for a minute? ” 

The boy began making threatening motions 
with his hands as if he were about to throw some¬ 
thing at the girl, but she remained undisturbed, 
plainly determined to hold her position as long 
as she pleased. 

Stacy was furious. Scooping up a handful of 
water from the pail he hurled it at the Indian 
girl. She laughed merrily and retaliated by 
flinging a handful of dirt over the fat boy. 

“ Drive her away. I’ll throw the pail of water 
on her if you folks don’t do something! ” he 
threatened. Cautiously removing his feet from 
the pail, and holding it between himself and 
Moon Face, he began stepping to one side with 
the intention of making a dive for his tent. 
Moon Face sidled along also. There was no 


158 


GRACE HARLOWE 


getting rid of her. Stacy uttered a wild yell, 
hoping to frighten her away, whereupon several 
braves lounged that way. They, too, became 
interested as the girl chattered something in her 
own tongue, and grunted their disapproval of 
him. One brave laughed, pointing a jeering 
finger at the red-faced fat boy. 

“ You will make fun of me, will you? ” raged 
Stacy, suddenly lifting the pail of water and 
hurling its contents full into the faces of the 
Indian bucks. Then, with a wild whoop, he 
dashed into his tent. 

“Sta—a—acy! '' cried the Overlanders. 

The Indians staggered back, at first in amaze¬ 
ment at the boy's boldness, then, angered at the 
insult he had offered them, they started for the 
Overland boy's tent, plainly with the intention of 
hauling him out. But the Indians halted, as 
they found themselves suddenly facing San An- 
tone's angry face. 

“ What do ye reckon ye want? " he drawled. 
“ Get out of this heah right smart or I’ll make ye 
dance! " threatened the guide. 

Instead of halting, the Indians, muttering 
threats, made a rush for the fat boy's tent. The 
hand of one in the lead had grasped the flap when 
San Antone got into action. Tony's hand went 
to his hip with that lightning-like movement that 
was so much a part of him. But quick as he was, 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


159 


Lieutenant Wingate had been quicker, and by 
the time the guide’s revolver was out, Hippy was 
between him and the Indian. 

Fastening a grip in the buck’s hair, Hippy 
flung the fellow to the ground. 

“Get out of here! You’re lucky that you 
aren’t dead already,” warned the Overlander. 

The Indian was on his feet with a bound. 

“ Look out for his knife! ” cried Emma shrilly, 
as the Indian bounded towards the Overland 
Rider, bent on murder. 


160 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XVI 

AROUND THE COUNCIL FIRE 

S AN ANTONE shot from the hip, the 
muzzle of his revolver pointed downwards, 
because of the danger that he knew would 
result to others from shooting higher. 

The shot was fired with deliberation, and 
reached the mark for which it was intended — 
the foot of the angry buck who was charging on 
Lieutenant Wingate with upraised knife. The 
Indian dropped, but was up again and limping 
away almost before the spectators realized what 
had occurred. 

“Now you have done it, Tony! ” rebuked 
Emma. 

“ Thank you,” added Hippy. “ I reckon I’d 
had to do it if you hadn’t.” 

A great uproar followed, but San Antone stood 
calmly waiting for whatever else might develop. 

“ Do ye houn’s reckon as ye want some more? ” 
he drawled. “If ye don’t, get out! ” 

The bucks backed away sullenly, threatening 
the outfit with their eyes. In the meantime 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


161 


someone had run for the Acting Agent, who, 
having heard the shot, already was on his way to 
the scene. 

It took but a moment to acquaint Mr. Com¬ 
stock with the facts, whereupon he went in search 
of the bucks who had been concerned in the 
attack, and promptly ordered them to return to 
their reservation in the Hills and stay there. He 
had no criticism to offer on the action of San 
Antone, but later urged Lieutenant Wingate to 
advise his party to be very careful that they did 
not further stir up the Indians, as trouble might 
result. 

“ Of course,” added Mr. Comstock, “ you are 
fully within your rights in protecting yourselves.” 

“ Young man! Hereafter I would advise you 
to keep your feet out of sight,” advised Tom, 
sternly regarding the fat boy. 

“Keep that moon-faced girl away from here! 
I guess I have some rights around my own tent,” 
grumbled Stacy. 

“ I reckon those cayuses never will ferget thet 
you throwed water on ’em,” reminded the guide. 
“ The braves air goin’ to hold a council this 
evenin’. They’ve put up the council lodge 
already. The Agent says he’s a little concerned 
’bout it.” 

“ Is it because of the shooting? ” asked Grace. 

“No. They asked permission before thet.” 


11—Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


162 


GRACE HARLOWE 


The Overlanders asked if they might attend 
the council of the braves. 

“ Thet’s what I was goin’ to tell ye when that 
feller tried to get into a mix-up. Comstock says 
ye may if you’ll keep quiet an’ not interfere with 
the proceedin’s. The Indians air restless. I 
seen thet from the first. They air goin’ to ask 
the Agent fer somethin’ an’, if they don’t get it, 
then look out fer squalls. Mebby we’ll see some 
real fun before we leave these heah parts,” 
finished the guide. 

“ Mr. Comstock says that we have done him a 
great service — to be more exact, that Hippy has, 
in curing the sick stock for the squaws. It has 
made many of the Indians feel friendly towards 
us, though I am afraid we have spoiled all the 
good we have done,” announced Tom. 

“ You’ll hev to leave yer guns outside, folks,” 
reminded the guide. “No weapons air ever 
taken into a council. Don’t ferget thet.” 

“ How about yourself, Tony? ” teased Emma. 

“ Wal, I reckon I’ll stay outside. Without my 
guns on I’d catch cold in ’bout a minute,” an¬ 
swered the guide in his characteristic drawl. 

No further disturbances marred the activities 
of the Overlanders that day, a day spent in ob¬ 
serving the unusual scenes that furnished a 
colorful picture, an ever-changing picture, until 
dinner time. The Acting Agent sent word to 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


163 


them to be at his office at eight o’clock that 
evening, so plans were made for doing so, San 
Antone offering to remain at home to see that 
nothing was stolen from their camp. 

Shortly after eight o’clock the Overlanders pro¬ 
ceeded to the Agency building where they found 
Mr. Comstock smoking his pipe, waiting for the 
hour when the council was to convene. He re¬ 
garded his visitors with twinkling eyes as he 
shook hands with them. 

“ No more trouble, I hope, eh? ” he questioned. 

“ Our principal trouble-maker has been very 
much chastened since the chief’s daughter called 
on him,” announced Emma. 

“ I must ask you all to keep perfectly quiet 
during the proceedings this evening, making no 
remarks, nor talking out loud among yourselves, 
for the Indians are touchy. I am quite certain 
that you will be discreet, but it is well to be 
forewarned,” said Mr. Comstock. 

“You may depend upon us,” answered Miss 
Briggs. 

“We will start now, as it will take some little 
time for the bucks to get settled and think over 
what they wish to say.” 

The party walked slowly across the grounds to 
the north of the Agency building, eventually 
arriving at a huge tepee, around which great 
numbers of braves and squaws had congregated* 


164 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Smoke was curling from the smoke-holes near the 
peak of the big tepee and braves, blanketed and 
hooded, were passing to and fro silent and ex¬ 
pressionless. The scene already had become im¬ 
pressive. 

Mr. Comstock, beckoning to his guests to 
follow him, stepped into the tepee and walked 
to the far end where he motioned to his party to 
be seated. 

“ This must be a medicine lodge,” observed 
Stacy. “ It smells like a hospital I was in once.” 

Stacy was right. The council tepee was the 
medicine lodge, and in it were gathered many 
stolid-faced braves. The odors from their pipes, 
and from the dried skins on which they were 
squatting, was almost overpowering. Had it not 
been for the smoke-holes, which carried off some 
of the odors, the party of Overlanders would have 
been in even greater distress than they were. 

No word was spoken. The Indians were silent 
and none appeared to give the slightest heed to 
Mr. Comstock and his friends, the eyes of every 
brave in the tepee being fixed on the flickering 
council fire in the center. Other braves came in 
and took their places without so much as a glance 
at those already there. 

“ Buffalo Face is sitting down,” announced Mr. 
Comstock. “ That is he with the feather stuck 
in his hair.” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


165 


The Overlanders eyed the chief inquiringly. 
Buffalo Face was fully six feet in his moccasins — 
straight, supple, muscular. They could see by 
the way he sat down that he had that perfect 
command of every muscle that marks the athlete. 
It was Buffalo’s features, however, that espe¬ 
cially attracted the attention of the guests. There 
were hard and cruel lines there, and the eyes were 
shifty, having a habit of glancing up quickly 
from under half-closed eyelids and taking in their 
surroundings in one flashing look. The Over¬ 
landers were favored with one of those compre¬ 
hending glances as the chief sat down, but no 
displeasure was observable in the stolid counte¬ 
nance. 

Following the chief, a bent, slouching figure 
entered, a string of bears’ teeth rattling at his 
waist. The newcomer made the sign of peace, 
and gazing over the heads of the assemblage kept 
his eyes on the sombre walls of the tepee. 

“ Who is that? ” whispered Miss Briggs. 

“ The war priest,” answered Mr. Comstock. 
“ He always conducts these councils.” 

“ I should like to have that string of beads he 
is carrying,” said Stacy out loud. 

“ Sh-h-h-h! ” warned Grace. 

“ But he needs a pair of shoulder braces to 
straighten him up,” added the fat boy in the same 
tone. 


166 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Grace pinched his arm, whereupon the fat boy- 
grunted “ Ouch! ” 

The braves gave no heed to the interruption, 
but perhaps they did not hear it. Mr. Comstock 
did not smile. His eyes were raised, his gaze 
fixed on the smoke-flaps above his head. 

“Good gracious! Look who's here!” ex¬ 
claimed Nora in an excited whisper. 

“The Man in Black — Professor Black!” 
wondered Elfreda. 

Professor Black, clad as they had seen him 
when he visited the Overland camp, sat down and 
deposited his bag of “ specimens ” at his side, re¬ 
moved his lidless straw hat, curled his legs under¬ 
neath him in Indian fashion, and gazed solemnly 
into the council fire. 

Mr. Comstock gave the professor a quick, keen 
glance, then resumed his study of the roof of the 
tepee. The Overlanders wondered, but Stacy, in 
a voice audible all over the tepee, answered their 
unspoken question. 

“ I reckon Old Mystery is here looking for the 
Do-Do thing,” he observed. 

“ If you speak out loud again I’ll have you put 
out,” threatened Tom Gray. 

At this juncture the voice of a squaw outside 
the tepee was raised in a weird chant, and there¬ 
upon the war priest deliberately drew a long pipe 
from beneath his blanket and filled it slowly. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


167 


“ La gome towah! ” he grunted, meaning that 
he wanted a torch. 

One was deftly snatched from the fire, and with 
it he lighted the pipe, took several deliberate 
puffs and handed it to a brave to be passed to 
Mr. Comstock. The Acting Agent gravely went 
through the motions of taking a few puffs, then 
passed the pipe back. 

“Whew! That’s awful,” muttered Stacy, 
getting a brief whiff of the pipe as it passed him. 
“ They must smoke kinnikinnick or dried leaves 
in that thing.” 

“ It is the pipe of peace,” Mr. Comstock 
informed him. 

“Pipe of peace! Pshaw! One puff at that 
would make a man willing to fight an Ippy Do- 
Do single-handed.” 

Mr. Comstock’s face expanded in a grin, but 
still none of the braves heeded the interruption. 

The pipe of peace was twice passed about the 
circle of braves, the chant of the squaw having 
been the signal for the beginning of the pow¬ 
wow. The council was now in session. There 
must be no interruption. Now that the formali¬ 
ties had begun, no braves must enter or leave the 
tepee — formalities that were destined to result 
in a greater sensation than, in the memory of any 
Indian there, had ever occurred at a council 
meeting. 


168 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XVII 

HIPPY RESENTS AN INSULT 

T HE war priest laid the pipe aside, after 
having knocked the ashes from the 
bowl into the council fire. 

“ Chetwoot! ” he fairly exploded, without 
looking up. 

“ He is calling for the chief known as Chet¬ 
woot, meaning the bear,” Mr. Comstock informed 
the Overlanders in a low tone. 

“How!” said Chetwoot, turning his face to 
Mr. Comstock, and at the same time making the 
sign of peace. 

“How!” answered the Acting Agent. “You 
would speak.” 

Chetwoot rose slowly to his full height. His 
was a commanding figure, tall and supple as that 
of Buffalo Face himself. 

“ My friend, we would have speech with you. 
Those things have come to our ears which make 
the heart of the red man sad,” he said, speaking 
in English, in which, for the benefit of the Agent, 
the proceedings of the council were conducted, 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


169 


except as here and there an Indian exclamation 
was uttered. “ It has come to the tribes of the 
Hills that the white man would graze his cattle 
and his sheep on our hunting grounds. Do I not 
speak truly? ” 

“Proceed! Say your say,” urged the Acting 
Agent. 

“ Already the cattle are following the long trail 
from the Bad Lands. Even now they are 
making short the grass in the foothills of the 
Hills. Even now our braves are driving their 
ponies far into the gulches that they may have 
that which keeps the spirit within. For what 
reason has the white man entered the reservation 
of the Sioux? ” Chetwoot’s voice was eloquent. 
His eloquence, his intelligence and his command 
of language led the Overlanders to give him 
almost breathless attention. 

“ They have not done so, Chetwoot,” replied 
Mr. Comstock gravely. 

“ Not so? ” 

“ No.” 

“ Then why these things? ” 

“ The White Father at Washington has granted 
permission to certain cattle raisers to graze their 
stock in the Hills for a short time because there 
have been no rains in the lowlands, and the sun 
has burned their grass away. They are here but 
for a brief stay.” 


170 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Why do they not remain in the Bad Lands?” 
persisted the chief. 

“ I have told you. Their stock is starving.” 

“Our ponies and our own cattle, too, will 
starve. The cattle and the sheep from the Bad 
Lands soon will eat up all the food from our 
reservation. The red man likes it not. What 
does the white brother say we shall do? ” 

“Go in peace! The White Father can do 
nothing wrong. He has the interests of the red 
man at heart,” Mr. Comstock made prompt 
reply. 

“What of my brothers who have tilled the 
soil? What of their crops? ” demanded Chet- 
woot. 

“ They shall not be disturbed.” 

“ Are not these Hills the red man's own? ” 
demanded Chetwoot. 

“You know that such is not the case, Chet- 
w r oot. The lands are for the use of the Indian, 
not the Indian's own to do with as he pleases, 
save in particular cases of which I need not 
speak.” 

“ Then you will not stop those who come with 
their cattle, their sheep, their dogs and their 
squaws? ” questioned the chief. 

“ I have not the power to do so, Chetwoot, 
but the Agent is now in Washington to discuss 
this very thing with the Government. You will 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


171 


do well to abide by such word as he may bring 
back to you. Have I your word that you will do 
as I suggest, Chetwoot? ” 

“We shall do nothing until the cowmen and 
their stock come into our lands in the Hills. Be¬ 
yond that I cannot say. Who are these? ” he de¬ 
manded, fixing a piercing gaze on the Overland 
Riders. 

“Friends of mine,” replied Mr. Comstock. 
“ They would attend the council.” 

“They shall go! They shall not remain. 
There be bad spirits in their eyes.” 

“Whisper to Stacy and ask him to leave the 
room,” urged Emma in Elfreda’s ear. 

“ They shall remain, Chief. I assure you they 
mean no harm,” replied Mr. Comstock. 

“ I know them not. They shall go. Begone! ” 

“Big Medicine him stay! ” cried a voice that 
seemed to come up from the ground. 

The Overlanders saw the face of an Indian 
thrust under the wall of the tepee. 

“ It's ‘ Sawbucks 9 ! ” cried Chunky. 

“ Woo! ” grunted the braves, thrusting with 
their hands as if to push the head of Red Wolf 
from underneath the tepee wall, but Red Wolf 
already had withdrawn his head. 

“ I would speak with the voice of the White 
Father,” announced Buffalo Face, referring to Mr. 
Comstock, at the same time uncoiling himself and 


172 


GRACE HARLOWE 


rising to his height. “These that Chetwoot 
would have begone, L also would have begone. 
They be wake kloshe! ” 

“No good,” interpreted Mr. Comstock. 

“ How so, Chief? ” demanded the Acting Agent. 
“ The white men did visit one of my peaceful 
camps in the Hills, and there attack my braves, 
beat my chief, and spirit from my village a squaw- 
buck. To-day one did shoot and make lame 
another of my braves here where the White 
Father says there shall be peace. They must go 
— leave the Hills! They shall no longer hunt in 
them, for the Hills belong to us. The white bucks 
and their squaws shall leave. I have said it! ” 
“ Buffalo! I warn you not to interfere with 
these friends. If you do it will be at your peril,” 
warned Mr. Comstock. “ They have proved 
themselves the friends of your people this day. 
They have permission to be here, and they may 
shoot such game as they desire, so long as they 
violate no law. Did not the Big Medicine Man 
save the cow for the squaw? Did he not by his 
skill cause the animal to throw out the potato 
that had stuck in her windpipe? ” 

“ Is it he who put life into the goose when there 
was little life there? ” questioned Chetwoot. 

“The very same/’ answered Mr. Comstock. 
Then turning to Buffalo the Acting Agent con¬ 
tinued: “ Do you still say that they must go? ” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


173 


“ Yes! All shall go,” commanded Buffalo Face. 

Chetwoot regarded the Overland Riders with 
burning eyes, one by one, his gaze finally rest¬ 
ing on the face of Lieutenant Wingate. Hippy 
gave back the look in a respectful but fearless 
gaze. 

“ The Big Medicine is much brave buck,” de¬ 
clared Chetwoot. “ He shall stay! All shall stay, 
if—” 

“ Then let them return the rifle of Buffalo Face 
that they have spirited away with their black 
magic! ” thundered Buffalo. 

“ What is this you say? ” demanded Mr. Com¬ 
stock. 

“ We haven’t his rifle, sir,” spoke up Lieutenant 
Wingate, addressing the Acting Agent. 

“ Does the white medicine man deny that he 
knows of it? ” demanded Buffalo. 

Hippy was silent, and the Indians were quick 
to catch the significance of that silence. 

“ Nika wake tsolo! ” roared Buffalo Face, laps¬ 
ing into his own tongue. 

“ What is he saying? ” whispered Tom Gray. 

“ He says, ‘ We no longer wander in the dark,’ 
meaning that they understand. Lieutenant Win¬ 
gate’s failure to answer Buffalo’s question has 
convinced the Indians that he was concerned in 
the theft of the rifle.” 

Hippy was on his feet in an instant, his face 


GRACE HARLOWE 


174 

\ "V-, 

flushed with anger, but when he spoke his voice 
was under perfect control. 

“ Chief Buffalo,” he said, “we have not pos¬ 
sessed your rifle, nor do we know where it is.” 

“ The white man lies! ” 

“ Peace! ” cried Chetwoot. 

“ I bet you don't dare go outside and tell him 
that! ” shouted Chunky. 

Hippy Wingate did not hear. He was making a 
tremendous effort to control himself, and the 
Overlanders seeing, understood and made no sign, 
except as Miss Briggs put a firm grip on Stacy 
Brown's wrist to warn him to keep silent. 

Hippy walked slowly towards the angry chief. 
Buffalo’s shoulders were hunched forward, his 
knees bent slightly, like a wild beast ready to 
spring upon its prey. All this Lieutenant Win¬ 
gate watchfully noted. 

“ Chief, I have spoken,” he said. “We know 
not where your rifle is. We may have seen it — 
I am not saying that we have not, but with its 
taking we have had nothing to do. Look among 
your own people if you would recover your 
weapon. Seek and you shall find.” 

It required no great powers of observation to 
discover what was coming next, for it was plainly 
written in the face of the enraged Buffalo Face. 
Mr. Comstock saw it, and Mr. Comstock under¬ 
stood. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


175 


“ Peace!” he shouted. “ Buffalo, you have 
smoked the pipe; you have sealed your word! ” 

Buffalo heeded neither admonition. He made 
a sudden leap towards the Overland Rider, a 
longer leap than Hippy had calculated on the 
chiefs being able to do, but, being on his guard, 
Lieutenant Wingate sprang backward, then took 
a forward leap. At the same time one hand 
shot out and in a flash the chief’s prominent nose 
was gripped between Hippy Wingate’s fingers. 
He gave the nose a terrific tweak and sprang 
back to safety. 

Though this tweak must have given the Indian 
severe pain he did not even utter a grunt. 

“The pale face lies! He is a liar and thief! ” 
screamed Buffalo, now having wholly lost all con¬ 
trol of himself. 

It had all occurred so quickly that the white 
guests had had no opportunity to collect their 
thoughts. They sat staring, for Lieutenant Win¬ 
gate’s daring held them motionless. 

“ Liar! ” Chief Buffalo Face again hurled him¬ 
self at the Overland Rider, both arms flung wide 
to embrace the white man. 

Hippy at the same instant threw his body for¬ 
ward. His right fist shot up in a short-arm jolt 
that had his weight and momentum behind it. 

The spectators barely saw the blow delivered, 
but they plainly heard the impact when Hippy’s 


176 


GRACE HARLOWE 


hard fist smashed against the protruding bellig¬ 
erent chin of Buffalo Face. 

This time Buffalo grunted so that all heard. 
For a second the chief swayed unsteadily, then 
plunged sideways to the ground, and there he lay 
motionless with head close to the council fire. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


177 


CHAPTER XVIII 
“ big medicine! big warrior! ” 
SHRILL piercing yell was uttered by the 



fat boy. Hippy had stepped back, the 


color leaving his face as quickly as it had 


come. 


“ I had to do it,” he muttered, narrowly watch¬ 
ing his fallen adversary. 

“ Of course you did,” persisted Stacy gleefully. 

Mr. Comstock and Tom Gray had sprung for¬ 
ward at the same instant. What they feared was 
that the braves might fall upon the visitors, and, 
perhaps in their anger, do the Overland Riders 
serious injury. But the braves did nothing of the 
sort. Whether they thought Buffalo Face had 
gotten what he deserved, or whether they were in¬ 
different because he had fallen in a personal cause, 
the Overlanders never knew. The Indians sat 
stolidly gazing into the fire, glancing neither at 
their chief nor at his victorious adversary. 

“ Hippy has started more trouble for us,” com¬ 
plained Elfreda. 

“ I think so,” agreed Grace. 


12 - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


178 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Chetwoot, at this instant, made the sign of 
peace to Hippy. 

“ Big Medicine! Big Warrior! Much big little 
man,” he grunted. 

“ Oh, we’re all big little men,” answered Stacy. 
“ I shouldn’t mind trimming a few copper kettles 
myself.” 

“ Will you please stop? ” begged Elfreda in ex¬ 
asperation. “ Quite enough has been done al¬ 
ready.” 

Hippy was now apologizing to Mr. Comstock. 

“ You did as I should have tried to do in the 
circumstances. You resented an insult, and you 
struck in self-defense,” said the Acting Agent. “ I 
of course regret that this has happened, but can 
in no wise blame you. The blame, if any, is on 
my own shoulders for having permitted you to 
risk entering the council at a time when the In¬ 
dians are so restless. I have never seen them so 
touchy since I have been on the reservation.” 

Lieutenant Wingate stepped over, and, raising 
the head of his victim, who was stirring slightly, 
called for water. When the water was brought 
to him the Overlander dashed it into the face of 
the unconscious chief. This was an added humil¬ 
iation, though Hippy was unaware of the fact. He 
had thought to help his enemy, but, instead, he 
was heaping insult on the red man’s head. 

Buffalo recovered consciousness quickly. Then 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


179 


sputtering and twisting his head from side to 
side, he crawled over to his place in the circle and 
sat down, making neither sign nor sound. At last 
he permitted his gaze to wander about the en¬ 
closure until his eyes finally rested on the face of 
his conqueror. 

Buffalo’s right hand stole cautiously towards 
his belt. Then with unexpected suddenness the 
chief leaped to his feet, and the Overlanders saw 
something flash in his hand. 

“ Opitsah! Opitsah! ” screamed the voice of 
Red Wolf from beneath the tepee wall, meaning, 
“ A knife! A knife! ” 

Chetwoot brought his own right arm up with a 
lightning-like swing. It struck Buffalo’s arm, and 
the knife was knocked from the chief’s hand and 
sent hurtling to the top of the medicine lodge. 
The knife-point penetrated the canvas, then fell 
to the ground. Chetwoot forced Buffalo back to 
his place, and made the sign of peace with crossed 
hands over his breast. 

“My brother has broken the pledge of the 
pipe!” announced Chetwoot sadly. “What 
shall the punishment be? ” he asked, turning to 
the Acting Agent. 

“He shall remain,” directed Mr. Comstock. 
“ Buffalo Face was in anger when he attacked my 
friend, but whether with or without reason I do 
not now say. Further disturbance, however, will 


180 


GRACE HARLOWE 


force me to arrest the offender and turn him over 
to the soldiers at the fort. Proceed! What 
would you that I should do? ” 

“ Hyas till Nika (“ I am very tired ”), answered 
Chetwoot. “ My brother has broken the peace of 
the pipe. I say no more. I await the decision 
of the White Father. If it be so that the Indian’s 
lands shall be occupied by the cows of the white 
men from the Bad Lands, then so let it be.” 

“ Chetwoot is sad,” soothed Mr. Comstock. 
“ Be of good cheer, for the President will do that 
which is right; then Chetwoot no longer shall be 
sad. These friends of mine shall hunt, but they 
shall not destroy the Indians’ game — they shall 
shoot only so much as they need for food on their 
journey.” 

“We shall shoot no game at all,” spoke up 
Hippy. “ I now see clearly that it is not right 
that we do so.” 

Chetwoot bowed low and with great dignity. 

“ Medicine Man is great — greater than his red 
brother of the Hills,” murmured Chetwoot. 

“ Buffalo! ” resumed Mr. Comstock. “ I charge 
you to go your way in peace. To-morrow you 
dance. In the meantime I will make inquiries 
about your rifle. Lieutenant Wingate has said 
that you should look among your own people for 
the lost weapon. I am of the opinion that you 
will do well to heed his words. If there is no 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


181 


more to be said we will smoke the pipe and re¬ 
turn to our own tepees.” 

Chetwoot bowed again, but Buffalo Face sat 
stolidly regarding the council fire. The pipe was 
lighted by the war priest and passed around the 
circle twice as before, but each time, it was ob¬ 
served by the Acting Agent, Buffalo Face merely 
brushed his lips with the pipe, taking no puff at 
all. The ashes were then shaken into the council 
fire and the fire itself stamped out, after which 
the braves filed out, Mr. Comstock and his friends 
leaving the tepee last of all. The Man in Black, 
as the party of guests recalled later, had dis¬ 
appeared without their having seen him go. 

The Overlanders, on reaching the fresh air, 
breathed sighs of relief. Mr. Comstock accom¬ 
panied them to their camp, and arriving there sat 
down to discuss the events of the evening. 

Tom Gray said he was deeply humiliated that 
they had been the cause of any disturbance. 

“ Lieutenant Wingate had no choice in the 
matter, I should say,” answered the Acting Agent. 
“ Buffalo Face was so enraged that he probably 
would have killed the lieutenant. The chief has 
weakened himself with his people by attending a 
council in a medicine lodge with a weapon on his 
person, and he may suffer for that. Do you mind 
telling me what you know about the theft of the 
rifle — do you know anything about it at all? ” 


182 


GRACE HARLOWE 




“We think we do,” spoke up Grace. 

“ I wish you would tell me what you do know,” 
urged Mr. Comstock. 

“ It doesn’t seem right for us to do that,” re¬ 
plied Hippy. “The information came to us 
through one who had done us a great service — 
an Indian whom we had once befriended. One 
day he brought a rifle with him to our camp, a 
rifle which he said he had taken from Buffalo’s 
camp. We advised him to return it.” 

“ Is he here? ” 

“ Yes, but I have not seen him have the weapon 
here. That is all I care to say about it, sir, if 
you will excuse me.” 

“ Say no more. I know the fellow now, and I 
don’t blame him. However, I fear that a rifle in 
his hands may cause trouble, and while the tribes 
are here for the Omaha I shall have him watched 
closely. I suppose, after what happened this 
evening, that you people will not care to go to 
the dance to-morrow night? ” questioned the Act¬ 
ing Agent with a smile. 

“ Of course we do,” bubbled Emma. “We 
Overlanders simply could not resist an invitation 
to a dance. Of course we shall go.” 

Mr. Comstock laughed heartily. 

“ You are a plucky lot,” he said. “ There are 
no tenderfeet in your outfit.” 

“With one exception, sir,” answered Emma. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


183 


“ That one's feet are extremely sensitive to cer¬ 
tain changes of temperature." 

Elfreda asked if there would be danger of 
further trouble with Buffalo Face. 

“I hardly think he will dare go to extremes 
here, but I should not advise you to stir him 
further. He has the most ungovernable temper 
of all the Indians I ever knew, and I have been 
among them for more than twenty years." 

“ Is their complaint justified?" asked Miss 
Briggs. 

“ Chetwoot spoke truly. However, the Indians 
are unnecessarily alarmed. They think this is the 
beginning of a movement to take away their hunt¬ 
ing grounds; but such is not the intention. The 
situation is as I told them." 

“ May I ask a favor, sir? " interrupted Chunky. 

“You may," answered the Acting Agent, 
smiling indulgently, for Stacy amused him 
immensely. 

“ Please lock up that squaw until I get off the 
reservation." 

Mr. Comstock looked puzzled. 

“ I mean that Moon Face person who hung 
around my tent while I was attending to my 
family affairs. She’ll be around here again in the 
morning if you don’t lock her up, and if she does 
come I’ll forget myself and drive her away with a 
switch/’ threatened the fat boy. 


184 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Mr. Comstock laughed heartily. 

“ Should she bother you further, come right to 
me. You must be protected, young man, even if 
we have to call out the soldiers from the fort to 
do it,” offered Mr. Comstock, rising to take his 
departure. 

San Antone was furious when informed of what 
had occurred at the council that night, and threat¬ 
ened to call Buffalo Face to account for his attack 
on Lieutenant Wingate. 

“ Tony! We have learned one thing this night. 
You aren’t the only savage in the Overland out¬ 
fit ; but just the same I am thankful that you had 
the good sense to stay at home,” declared Emma. 

The guide made them tell the story all over 
again, listening with frowning brow. His interest 
quickened when Elfreda told him of the presence 
of the Man in Black at the Indian council meet¬ 
ing. San Antone, too, had some information for 
the Overlanders. He informed them that two 
strange white men had been in the grove that 
night in conference with an Indian. 

“ I tried to get close enough to ’em to find out 
what they war up to, but the critters got away in 
a hurry when they seen me. Thar was somethin’ 
familiar ’bout one of the whites, but I couldn’t 
say whar I’d seen him. I reckon thar’s somethin’ 
more cornin’ off heah.” 

“We should worry. I’m going to bed,” an- 



He Saw a Figure Rise and Leap from the Tent. 


185 



































































IN THE BLACK HILLS 


187 


nounced Stacy. “ Should any of you folks see 
the moon-faced lady hovering about my tent in 
the morning, shoo her off.” 

The Overlanders decided that they, too, would 
turn in, and shortly after that they were asleep, 
and the fire that San Antone had kept up during 
their absence was dying out. No one remained 
awake to guard the camp, as it was not believed 
that it would be disturbed, now that the Indians 
understood that the Overlanders were friends of 
the Acting Agent, for Mr. Comstock had a stem 
way of putting down any interference with those 
in whom he was interested. 

It was long past midnight when the darkness 
was most intense, the campfires in the Indian 
villages having long since died out, that a wrig¬ 
gling object approached the Overland camp, 
creeping, crawling, halting, now and again lying 
prone on the ground to listen and observe, then 
moving forward again. 

The wriggling object was an Indian. He held 
a knife between his teeth and was heading directly 
for the tent occupied by Lieutenant Hippy Win¬ 
gate. The Indian was soon so close to the tent 
that Hippy’s snores must have been plainly audi¬ 
ble to him; and there he paused listening for 
several minutes. The Indian’s next forward 
movement placed his head and shoulders inside 
the open tent-flap. 


188 


GRACE HARLOWE 


A second figure at this juncture slowly raised 
itself from the ground just behind the creeping 
Indian, poised in a crouching attitude, then leaped 
upon the intruder. 

The thud when this second figure landed on the 
crawling Indian, and the grunt uttered by that 
redskin, awakened the sleeping Overlander. 

“ Wha—at — ” 

A screech of pain, a sudden commotion, brought 
not only Hippy to his feet, but every other 
member of the Overland party. He saw a figure 
rise and leap from the tent. Hippy sprang after 
him and stumbling, fell over the body of the 
Indian who had come there to attack him. 

“ Help here! ” shouted Lieutenant Wingate, 
springing to his feet and leaping out into the open 
just as San Antone and Tom Gray, followed by 
the rest of the party, came running to his tent. 




IN THE BLACK HILLS 


189 


CHAPTER XIX 

THE THRUST THAT FAILED 

CC A LIGHT here, quick! " shouted Hippy. 

L\ “ There's a man in my tent and he 
X JL m ay be dead! ” 

Grace, before leaving her tent, had had the fore¬ 
thought to bring her pocket lamp. Hippy took 
it from her and stepped back into his tent fol¬ 
lowed by Tom and the guide, the others of the 
party hesitating at the entrance. 

“ It's a redskin! " announced the guide. “ He's 
been knifed — thar in the shoulder." 

“ Is he dead? " begged Grace in an awed tone. 

“ No! " cried Tom. “ Get help! Someone go 
for the Agent and a doctor." 

“ The Indians are coming! " yelled Stacy, start¬ 
ing for his tent. 

“ Come back here! " commanded Hippy. “ We 
must keep together." 

“ Let me look the man over," requested Elfreda 
in a firm voice. “ Yes, the fellow is alive, but he 
will die unless we can stop the bleeding at once. 
My kit, quick! " 


190 


GRACE HARLOWE 


It was fetched by Tom. Indians could be 
heard, running towards the Overland camp, chat¬ 
tering and shouting, for the word had been 
mysteriously passed that one of their people had 
been killed. It looked as if they were going to 
rush the Overland camp, but they were brought 
to an abrupt stop by San Antone. 

“ Whar do ye reckon yer goin'? ” he demanded, 
facing them with a revolver in either hand. “ Get 
a doctor. Thar's an Indian in thar thet some¬ 
body stuck a knife into, an' I reckon it's a good 
job so fer as it went. Get a doctor an' get the 
Agent before I let go at ye! ” commanded the 
guide. 

An angry, menacing murmur greeted the words, 
but two braves suddenly broke from the rapidly 
increasing mob and ran to do the Texan's bidding. 

In the meantime Elfreda had obtained her kit 
and was doing her best, assisted by Grace, to stop 
the flow of blood from the Indian’s shoulder 
wound, while San Antone, with those ever-ready 
revolvers, kept the now thoroughly aroused In¬ 
dians at a safe distance from the scene. 

It was but a few moments later when Mr. Corn- 
stock and the Agency surgeon came running up, 
followed in bounding leaps by Chief Buffalo Face, 
Chetwoot and several braves. Miss Briggs and 
Grace were still working over the wounded man, 
and after a hurried examination the surgeon said 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


191 

<* 

the man would live, adding further that the 
emergency treatment of the two Overland girls 
undoubtedly had saved the man's life. 

Up to this time, Buffalo Face had kept some 
distance from the tent. He now strode forward, 
his face contorted with passion. 

“ You see! ” he roared, pointing to Hippy, but 
addressing his remarks to the Acting Agent. 
“ The White Medicine is bad medicine. You see 
what he do. He try kill my brave. He must go 
— go now! My braves I cannot hold. They 
mad, much mad." 

“ Be quiet, Buffalo Face! You are excited. I 
promise you that this affair shall be investigated," 
promised Mr. Comstock. 

“ Him try kill brave! " 

“What's thet you-all say?" drawled San An- 
tone. “You poor miserable old scoundrel! Do 
you mean to say thet this gentleman tried to kill 
thet fellow? " 

“Yes. Buffalo Face says it! " 

The guide strolled up to the chief and, quick 
as a flash, thrust the muzzle of a revolver against 
the chief's stomach. 

“ I’m kind of hard a-hearin’, Chief. Who is it 
you-all says did this heah little job? " questioned 
San Antone sweetly. 

The Indian's body did not flinch, but his eyes 
did ever so little. 


192 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Mebby not know/’ grunted Buffalo Face. 

“ I reckoned as you-all didn’t,” drawled San 
Antone, retiring to his former position. 

“Please, Tony, don’t do anything foolish,” 
urged Emma. 

Indians now bore the wounded man away, fol¬ 
lowed by the surgeon, and as soon as this had 
been done, Mr. Comstock asked the Overlanders 
to give him what information they had on the 
occurrence. 

“ Buffalo Face and Chetwoot! Come forward. 
I wish you to hear all that these guests of ours 
have to say,” directed Mr. Comstock. 

“ You keep out of this or I’ll wallop you right! ” 
threatened Hippy in the guide’s ear. 

“ Proceed, Lieutenant Wingate. I believe it 
was in your tent that the brave was wounded.” 

“ The little that I know is quickly told,” 
answered Hippy. “ I was sleeping when a sound 
in my tent awakened me. It must have been that 
Indian creeping in, for he was on the ground. At 
that moment someone behind him leaped on the 
fellow; then followed a screech that brought me 
to my feet. I saw a second person leap up and 
run away. That is the whole story, sir.” 

“Was the second man an Indian or a white 
man? ” asked the Acting Agent. 

“ I don’t know. It was too dark to see well, 
and I hadn’t got all the sleep out of my eyes.” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


193 


" No one but yourself saw either man, did he? ” 
asked Mr. Comstock. 

“ None of our party did. I do not know 
whether other persons did or not.” 

“Have you a knife, Lieutenant?” 

“ Of course. Two of them. A pocket knife in 
my trousers, and my hunting knife in its sheath in 
my tent. Do you wish to see them? ” 

“ I think it might be well to do so.” 

Both knives were produced, and first examined 
by Mr. Comstock, then gravely by the two In¬ 
dian chiefs, who passed the knives back without 
comment. 

“ Buffalo, are you satisfied? ” questioned the 
Acting Agent. 

“ Not satisfied,” grunted the chief. 

“ You're a hard shell, aren’t you? ” interjected 
Stacy. 

“ What you do about this? ” demanded Buffalo 
Face. 

“ I shall have our men try to find the guilty 
one. But, Chief, the wounded man is one of 
your bucks. Will you tell me what he was doing 
in Lieutenant Wingate’s tent at that hour in the 
morning? ” 

“Not know.” 

“You don’t know whether or not the Indian 
carried a weapon with him, do you, Mr. Win¬ 
gate? ” 


13 - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


194 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Hippy said that he did not know. 

“ If he did it must be in the tent now. We will 
look, with your permission.” 

The two chiefs and the Acting Agent entered 
the tent, the Overlanders looking on from the 
outside. An exclamation from Mr. Comstock 
told them that he had made a discovery. 

“Here is the knife, an Indian knife at that. 
Chief, to whom does this knife belong? ” he de¬ 
manded sternly, fixing his eyes on Buffalo Face. 

“ Not know,” grunted the chief. 

“You don't seem to know much of anything 
this evening, do you? ” retorted Mr. Comstock 
with a note of irony in his voice. 

“ I say, Mr. Comstock! ” It was the voice of 
San Antone. “ I reckon I can make him talk if 
you-all will go 'way from heah for 'bout a 
minute.” 

“ He knows to whom the knife belongs,” whis¬ 
pered Elfreda, referring to Buffalo Face. 

“ Thank you, San Antone, but we can't have 
such methods, as you would use, practiced on the 
Indians. It won’t do at all. I am glad we found 
this knife. I shall keep it and perhaps may be 
able to identify it. It is my belief that it belongs 
to the wounded buck, not to the man who 
stabbed him.” 

“ Chief Buffalo see buck and ask him who cut 
with knife,” volunteered Buffalo Face. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


195 


The Acting Agent ordered the chief to keep 
away from the wounded man, preferring to ask 
his own questions, which he said he would do as 
soon as the surgeon gave permission. He directed 
the chief to go back to his village, and warned 
him against stirring up his people. 

“ If you folks are not going to turn in at once 
I would suggest that you walk over to the hospital 
with me. The man ought to be able to talk by 
this time. Indians have fine recuperative 
powers,” said the Acting Agent. 

The Overland Riders eagerly accepted the in¬ 
vitation, leaving San Antone to nurse his rage 
alone and watch the camp, not a safe place now 
for Indian prowlers. 

Mr. Comstock was with the wounded man for 
nearly half an hour before he returned to his 
guests. His face wore a serious expression when 
he joined them at his office, before which curi¬ 
ous Indians had gathered in large numbers wait¬ 
ing for something “ to turn up,” as he expressed 
it. 

“ What luck? Is the man alive? ” questioned 
Tom. 

“ Very much so. He will be out of the hospital 
before morning if the surgeon will let him. A 
queer thing happened there,” added Mr. Com¬ 
stock reflectively. “ After the buck had told his 
story to me, by starts and jerks, and the usual 


196 


GRACE HARLOWE 


grunts, a voice — the voice of a white man—* 
broke in. 

“ ‘ The Indian buck lies! ’ said the voice. It 
was someone outside who said it, but, though I 
sprang to the window instantly, not a person was 
in sight. I know it was none of you people, but 
it bothers me not a little. One mystery a night 
is enough for this ordinarily quiet reservation.” 

“ Does he give any reason for being in my 
tent?” asked Hippy. 

“ Yes. He told me several things, things that 
make it advisable for me to keep him from seeing 
any of his fellows or his chief, at least until after 
the Omaha dance. The buck says that he was 
on his way to the spring where you get your 
water, when a man suddenly jumped on him 
from the rear and drove a knife into his shoulder. 
He says the knife was intended to pierce his 
heart, but that he turned so quickly that it en¬ 
tered his shoulder instead.” 

“ Hm-m-m! ” muttered Hippy. 

“ He says that his captor, after stabbing him, 
dragged him over and threw him into a white 
man’s tent, and that as he did so the man who 
had attacked him uttered a wild yell, but the 
brave fainted then, according to his story, and 
knew no more for some time.” 

“ That Indian has real imagination,” cried 
Emma with some enthusiasm. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


197 


“ Of course he didn’t see who it was that at¬ 
tacked him, did he? ” wondered Tom. 

“ He says he did; says that he turned as the 
knife entered his shoulder, as I just told you, and 
got a good look at his assailant. He declares that 
it was a white man, and that he knew the man.” 

“Who was it?” questioned Lieutenant Win¬ 
gate eagerly. 

“He says you are the man who drove the 
knife into his shoulder! ” announced the Acting 
Agent. 


198 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XX 

THE DANCE IN THE OMAHA HOUSE 

HE Overland Riders uttered the one 
word, “Oh! ” 



JL “ The man lies! ” protested Tom Gray 
angrily. 

“Yes, that is what I told him, and that is 
what the voice from the outside said also. Of 
course the idea is preposterous, and I do not wish 
you to think that I have given it the least con¬ 
sideration. However, it won’t do to let Buffalo 
Face know what the buck said, nor would I sug¬ 
gest your repeating his statement to that sudden 
guide of yours. He might do something impru¬ 
dent, you know,” added Mr. Comstock smiling. 
“ I shall keep the wounded man from seeing any¬ 
one until after the dance, and probably for some 
days after you have left the reservation. He is 
one of Buffalo Face’s scouts and stands close to 
the chief, and therein may lie the answer to the 
problem that is before me,” concluded the Acting 
Agent enigmatically. 

“ Good-night! Don’t lose any sleep over what 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


199 


I have told you, for I am going to turn that buck 
over for trial for attempting to take your life, 
Lieutenant. I shall have plenty of evidence to 
warrant his punishment, and—” 

“ By the way, Mr. Comstock! Do you know a 
Professor Black? ” questioned Miss Briggs. 

“ Black —Black? ” 

“He says he is a geologist. He was at the 
council for a short time — an odd-looking crea¬ 
ture,” reminded Grace. 

“ Oh! ” Mr. Comstock gave Elfreda a queer 
look. “ I know who the man is,” he said. 
“ Good-night once more! ” 

“Well? Did you find out what you wished 
to know? ” laughed Grace, as they reached the 
open. 

“ Yes, I did,” replied Elfreda, but she failed to 
explain further. 

The Overlanders went to bed soon after reach¬ 
ing camp, though there were only a few hours of 
sleep remaining to them. This time San Antone 
sat up to guard the camp, in view of the “ un¬ 
settled conditions,” as Emma expressed it. Stacy 
went to bed grumbling at having had to lose a 
good part of his night’s sleep, and it seemed but 
a few moments later when Emma Dean’s voice 
awakened him, shortly after dawn. 

“Stacy! Get up. Your friend is out here,” 
Emma informed him. 


200 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ My friend? ” 

“Yes. She with the'cheeks that shine like the 
polished sides of a copper kettle. Moon Face, I 
believe she calls herself.” 

“ Send her away! Send her away, I tell you! ” 
shouted Chunky in sudden panic. “ If you don’t, 
somebody surely will get hurt.” The fat boy 
sprang out of bed and hurriedly fastened his 
tent-flap with horse-blanket safety pins. “ I’ll 
assault the first person who opens this flap,” he 
threatened. “ Has she gone? ” 

^Fat boy come out,” cooed a soft voice, its 
owner having been encouraged by Emma’s nods 
and smiles. 

Stacy dived for the protection of his blankets 
but he was on the alert at the sound of Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate’s voice. 

“ Young woman, you will have to go away 
from here,” Hippy was saying. “ Come around 
later. Our friend is too bashful to show himself 
now, but I promise that you shall see him later.” 

“ No she won’t; not if I see her first! ” yelled 
the fat boy. “ I am going to get out of this. I 
don’t think much of a moon that is shining 
around all day long.” Stacy raised the tent wall 
and peered out. To his great relief Moon Face 
was walking slowly away, whereupon he got up 
and dressed. He appeared outside soon after 
that, red-faced and considerably ruffled. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


201 


"Where is she? ” he demanded. 

“ I am sure I don’t know. Perhaps you had 
better run and catch up with the girl if you are 
so eager to see her,” suggested Emma sweetly. 

“ Bosh! ” grunted Stacy. 

San Antone, coming into camp at this junc¬ 
ture after a look about, informed the Overlanders 
that large numbers of Indians had come in in 
the early morning to attend the Omaha dance, so 
after breakfast the party went out for a stroll 
among the villages to look them over. Here and 
there black looks from snapping black eyes were 
directed at them, but the Riders were not mo¬ 
lested. On their stroll they passed the tepee of 
Buffalo Face, but, so far as their observation 
went, the chief did not look at them. 

It was the Omaha house, however, that at¬ 
tracted their special attention that morning, a 
low, rambling building with a crudely con¬ 
structed chimney at one end. The building was 
closed and locked, and squaws, sitting about out¬ 
side the tepees in its vicinity, were busily engaged 
in preparing the head dresses and the costumes for 
the dancers. All this was new and interesting to 
the visitors, who were eagerly looking forward to 
the festivities that were to take place that night. 

“ It looks to me-all as if it were going to be a 
large evening,” observed Stacy, thoughtfully 
gazing up at the skies. 


202 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ That is because Moon Face will be there/* 
answered Emma sweetly. 

“ If she is I’ll go home/* threatened Stacy. 
“ Do we carry our side arms to-night? ” 

“We certainly do not/* replied Tom with stern 
emphasis. “ By the way, has anyone seen Red 
Wolf this morning? ” 

“ There he comes now, carrying water for the 
squaws,” announced Nora. “ Poor fellow.” 

At this juncture the “ squaw ” set down his 
buckets and began arranging his mourning blan¬ 
ket, which he was still engaged in doing when 
the Overland Riders came up to him. They 
greeted him cordially. 

“ You see um buck try kill last night? ” ques¬ 
tioned Red Wolf. 

“ Of course we did,” replied Emma. 

“Me see um buck, too. Me have big knife 
and — ” 

“Stop it! ” commanded Hippy sternly. “Not 
another word. We do not wish to know anything 
about it! Do you want me to go to the Agent? ” 

Red Wolf picked up his pails and squared his 
shoulders, looking straight into the eyes of Lieu¬ 
tenant Wingate. 

“ Big Medicine! ” he said in a full deep voice, 
and went on his way. 

The Overlanders looked at each other, the 
same thought in the mind of each. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


203 


“Red Wolf! ” they exclaimed in one voice. 

“How awful! ” murmured Emma. 

“ He saved my life,” answered Hippy. “ But 
not another word on the subject. We do not 
know, we must not know, or it will be our duty 
to report it to the Agent,” he added with finality. 

The Overlanders were silent and thoughtful 
for the most part during the rest of their stroll, 
and about the middle of the forenoon they re¬ 
turned to their camp, where they remained until 
evening. Following dinner they walked slowly 
towards the Omaha house where Mr. Comstock 
was to meet them at nine o’clock. Reaching the 
Omaha, they found the throng of Indians so 
dense that they had difficulty in making their 
way to the door. A perfect babble of chattering 
and deep guttural grunts, punctuated by the 
yelps of dogs, and here and there an occasional 
“ woof ” assailed their ears. The Omaha house 
was lighted now, and smoke was rolling from the 
chimney. 

“ They are cooking their feast,” announced 
Tom Gray. 

“ Oh! That’s good. Perhaps they will offer us 
something to eat,” cried Chunky, his interest in¬ 
stantly aroused. 

Mr. Comstock came pushing his way towards 
them just then. He was accompanied by three 
assistants and followed closely by Chief Chet- 


204 


GRACE HARLOWE 


woot. As the Acting Agent approached, the door 
was thrown open. Chetwoot uttered an explo¬ 
sive command whereupon the braves began 
crowding in through the narrow doorway, 
shouldering each other aside, grunting and all but 
coming to open conflict in their selfish haste. 

The Acting Agent and his guests had been per¬ 
mitted to enter and take their seats first of all. 
Everyone sat on the floor on skins and blankets 
that had been placed along the sides of the big 
barn-like structure. The bucks instantly lighted 
their pipes, and, squatting on their haunches, 
began puffing vigorously. A thick haze of smoke 
soon hung over the room. 

At the far end the Overlanders observed a drum 
suspended from sticks driven into the ground, 
while about the drum crouched twelve redskins, 
scantily clad, each carrying two drumsticks. 
They were the musicians, and the drum was to 
furnish the music for the dance. 

In front of the big fireplace, and close against 
the bed of coals, the visitors discovered a clothes 
boiler and several covered earthen pots. A thin 
wisp of steam was curling lazily from under¬ 
neath the cover of the boiler, the cover itself, 
under pressure of the steam, beating a soft tattoo. 

“ What is in that thing? ” wondered Stacy 
Brown, pointing to the boiler. 

“ The feast/' replied Mr. Comstock. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


205 


“Yes. But what is it? ” 

“That, I reckon, is where the fatted dog is 
simmering,” replied Tom Gray. 

“ Yes,” said the Acting Agent, nodding. “ Fat¬ 
ted dog is considered a great delicacy at these 
feasts and dances. The Indian squaws have 
been engaged for several weeks in fattening the 
cur for this occasion. They take as much care 
and pains in feeding the animal as you would 
in preparing a young pig for eating — perhaps 
more so,” Mr. Comstock informed them. 

“I — I presume they remove the bark before 
putting the animal on the fire, do they not? ” 
asked Emma demurely. 

The Overland Riders groaned. 

“ Quite so,” agreed the Acting Agent, grinning 
broadly. 

“I — I reckon I don’t want any of it,” stam¬ 
mered Stacy. 

“ Don’t be a tenderfoot, little boy,” begged 
Emma. “ If you refuse to partake of the feast 
the Indians will feel insulted.” 

“I don’t care if they are. I’ve got a pretty 
fair appetite, but it has never so far got the best 
of me that I thought I could eat the family pet.” 

“ Stalled! ” chuckled Hippy Wingate. “I — ” 

“Mercy! What’s that?” cried Emma, and 
the nerves of the Overlanders jumped as the 
musicians gave a piercing yell. 


206 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ Do not be alarmed. It is the signal for the 
start/’ explained the Acting Agent laughingly. 

Crash! 

Twelve pairs of drumsticks smote the big 
drum at the same instant. It sounded like an 
explosion. Twenty braves, painted and be¬ 
decked, leaped to the center of the room, utter¬ 
ing shrill, piercing cries and long-drawn war 
whoops, the bucks and squaws squatting along 
the sides of the room, adding their yells to the 
general din. 

The grass dance, once the most savage dance 
of the marauding Sioux, and still full of thrills, 
was on, and the Overland Riders found them¬ 
selves wondering what the end would be. 

It was a scene that none of that party of ad¬ 
venturers ever forgot — a barbaric scene of color 
and noise. The faces and bodies of the dancers 
were streaked with red, yellow and black, heads 
bristling with eagle feathers, sleigh bells jangling 
at the knees and ankles, and war bonnets hang¬ 
ing from the waists, their long streamers writhing 
on the floor with the sinuous movements of as 
many serpents. 

There was, however, something thrilling about 
the braves that appealed to whatever was primi¬ 
tive in the nature of the Overland Riders. Out¬ 
side the Omaha house a great throng of squaws 
and lesser braves were peering through windows 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


207 


and crevices, their shrill cries of encouragement 
plainly heard above the din within. 

Bronze bodies were soon glistening with per¬ 
spiration, muscles became tense and drawn along 
the thighs and in the necks of the dancers, and 
stood out under their knees like strips of raw- 
hide. The yells of the dancers became more and 
more strident. They were fast working them¬ 
selves into a frenzy. 

“ Bad business,” shouted Tom in the ear of 
the Acting Agent. 

“ I agree with you. But it would be more seri¬ 
ous were we to stop it,” replied Mr. Comstock. 

Stacy Brown’s face was flushed, and his feet 
were now keeping time with the beats of the 
drum. The thunderous rhythm of the music was 
firing the blood of the fat boy. Suddenly he 
threw off his coat and sprang out among the 
dancers, instantly throwing himself into a series 
of wild capers. 

“ Hi-yi, yip-yah! Hi-yi, yip-yah! ” yelled 
Stacy in a shrill voice, dancing away to the other 
side of the room, yelping as loudly as any of the 
painted savages. 

“Stop him! Bring him back! ” cried Nora in 
great excitement. 

“ Let him go. He is all right,” answered the 
Acting Agent, rocking back and forth and laugh¬ 
ing immoderately. 


208 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Chunky was still yelling, and now executing a 
fair imitation of the Indian grass dance, his body 
from the waist being thrown well forward, arms 
hanging loosely at the sides and every joint lim¬ 
ber and loose like a jumping-jack. It was as if 
he were in imminent danger of falling apart. 

“ I do believe I could do that! ” cried Emma, 
half rising, her face flushed and eyes sparkling. 

“ Sit down! ” commanded Grace, pulling the 
little Overland girl down beside her. 

The dancers, with the exception of Stacy, at 
last began to lag, whereupon the drummers set 
up a shrill chorus of yells to urge the painted sav¬ 
ages on. The braves again sprang to their work. 

A crash on the side of the room next to the 
fireplace attracted the attention of the Over¬ 
landers. 

“ Stacy has fallen over the wash boiler! He 
nearly went into the fireplace,” groaned Miss 
Briggs. 

The fat boy sprang to his feet and leaped 
away, a brave replaced the cover on the boiler, 
and the mad dance went on with more noise than 
before, continuing until one by one the braves 
staggered to the side of the room and collapsed, 
where they lay with swelling chests, and fingers 
opening and clenching. 

“ Oh, isn't it terrible? ” murmured Nora. 

“ Stacy! ” shouted Lieutenant Wingate. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


209 


The fat boy glanced about him and discovered 
that he was the only “ savage ” left on the floor, 
whereupon he began dancing towards his com¬ 
panions, making such funny grimaces that the 
Overlanders gave way to laughter. 

“ I could keep this up all night,” howled 
Chunky, pivoting before his companions. 

Tom Gray rose and fastened a pair of muscu¬ 
lar hands on the perspiring shoulders of the fat 
boy. “ Sit down! ” he commanded. 

Stacy sat down heavily. 

“ Young man. If you get up again until we 
are ready to leave the place I’ll thrash you,” 
threatened Tom. 

“ An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of 
cure, I understand,” said Emma suggestively. 

“ How I wish I were a savage. Whoop! ” 
howled Stacy, trying to rise. 

“ That wish was long since granted,” reminded 
Emma. 

“ Oh, let him go,” urged Hippy. “ He has been 
storing up steam for a long time. It is a wonder, 
though, that the braves do not resent his actions.” 

“ It isn’t probable that the dancers have even 
seen him,” replied Mr. Comstock. “ The specta¬ 
tors, however, have thoroughly enjoyed his ex¬ 
hibition, and I am positive that I have never 
laughed so much at any one time in my life. 
There they go again.” 


H - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


210 


GRACE HARLOWE 


A yell from the drum-beaters had called the 
dancers to action, and once more they leaped 
into the arena with a chorus of ear-splitting yelps. 
Tom Gray held the fat boy down by main force. 
For an hour longer the mad dance continued, 
then Chetwoot rose and waved his arms, where¬ 
upon the war priest got up with great dignity 
and began to speak to the Indians, now in the 
full-voweled tones of the Sioux. The dancing 
stopped instantly and the drums were suddenly 
silenced. 

“The war priest is recounting past deeds of 
valor,” Mr. Comstock informed his companions. 
“ They are great braggarts. He is telling the 
braves how, when a young buck, he once caught 
a dozen white soldiers, and killed them all with¬ 
out himself getting so much as a scratch. He 
says he wore their scalps at his belt for many 
years until they fell off from old age.” 

“ Did he? ” inquired Emma innocently. 

“ My personal opinion is thatf he did not,” an¬ 
swered Mr. Comstock laughingly. 

The air in the' Omaha house, already warm and 
heavy with the smoke from pipe and smoking 
lamps had taken on a thick haze. There were 
odors, too, that the Overland Riders did not en¬ 
joy, and that made them feel dizzy. 

A brave removed the cover from the wash 
boiler and poked the meat with a sharp stick. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


211 


u I know Stacy will just dote on that dish,” 
teased Emma. 

The fat boy rolled his eyes, then leaping to 
his feet started at a run for the exit, followed 
rather hurriedly by the Overland Riders and 
their host. 

“ Where did he go? ” cried Hippy. “ Stacy! ” 

“Him go to him tepee,” crooned Moon Face 
who was standing at the entrance to the Omaha 
house. “ Fat boy him not feel verra well. Moon 
Face she want help him, but him say ‘ get out/ 
and run away fast.” 

“ I don’t blame him,” declared J. Elfreda 
Briggs. “ Do I voice the feelings of this outfit 
when I say we are all ready to go home? ” 

“ You do,” cried the Overlanders in chorus. 

“ Then good-night. I shall have to go back 
and remain until the last buck is laid out and the 
fatted dog is no more,” said the Acting Agent. 

The Overlanders breathed deeply of the out- 
door air as they walked slowly homeward, discuss- 
ing the exciting incidents of the evening. They 
found Stacy Brown in bed. 

“What’s the matter with you?” demanded 
Hippy. 

“I’m a sick man,” said the fat boy with a 
groan. “I — I reckon I danced too hard. Uncle 
Hip, please, please give me a dose of that spavin 
cure that you use on the ponies. That’s the only 


212 


GRACE HARLOWE 


thing that will touch this awful revolution that’s 
going on in the inside of me.” 

Nora said she would make coffee at once, that 
they all needed something stimulating after the 
excitement, so- a cook-fire was made by San An- 
tone, and, after drinking two cups apiece, the 
Riders felt much better. Even Stacy had so 
far recovered that he thought he could eat a 
biscuit. 

The Overlanders sat up for some time, re¬ 
counting to San Antone all that had occurred, 
and discussing the evening’s doings. They 
finally got to bed, the guide saying he would fol¬ 
low later, though it was not his intention to do so. 
San Antone knew Indians, and San Antone feared 
trouble. He was even more concerned when he 
learned from his party that none of them had 
seen Buffalo Face that evening. 

San Antone was putting fresh fuel on the fire, 
listening to the murmured conversation of the 
Overlanders in their tents and the distant boom 
of the drum in the Omaha house, when there 
came an interruption. A voice hailed him from 
the darkness, the soft “ who-o-o ” of an Indian 
who wished to attract attention. 

“ Come out! ” commanded the guide. “ Come 
out careful-like or I’ll shoot,” he added, snapping 
out his revolver, but as the guide saw the figure 
that emerged from the shadows, his weapon 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


213 


sagged back into its holster, though his face took 
on a deep frown. San Antone was amazed and 
displeased. 

“ Moon Face! ” 

San Antone’s displeasure was destined to as¬ 
sume a stronger note when he learned the reason 
for the call of Buffalo Face’s daughter. 


214 


GRACE HARLOFE 


CHAPTER XXI 


PERIL FACES THE OVERLANDEES 



HAT do you want? ” demanded the 


guide. 


(C 


Me see fat boy.” 


“ No! Get out of heah! ” 

“ Me see Big Medicine then. Must see. Much 
trouble.” 

San Antone peered at the girl and saw that 
her face was troubled. He told her to say her 
say and be gone. 

“ Buffalo Face him much mad. Not go to 
Omaha because mad. Mebby he come to-night 
and make bad medicine for fat boy and Big 
Medicine. Moon Face ’fraid. Moon Face go 
now. You go — all go! ” 

“Go on! Tell that old ruffian, Buffalo Face, 
thet he can’t come too quick to suit this heah 
outfit,” snarled San Antone. 

The Indian girl disappeared in the darkness 
while he was speaking. Something had hurried 
her departure, and that something at this junc* 
ture appeared in the shape of a man in the light 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


215 


of the campfire. The guide recognized him at 
once as one of the Acting Agent’s assistants, 
Carver by name. 

“How!” greeted Carver. “There’s trouble 
afoot. Where’s the outfit? I must see one of the 
men.” 

“ Indians? ” questioned San Antone. 

“ Yes.” 

“ Then it warn’t no fairy story thet the little 
equaw was tellin’ me a minute before you-all 
came. I’ll call Lieutenant Wingate if you-all got 
to see him. Wait! ” 

A few moments later Hippy and Tom Gray 
appeared in their pajamas. 

“ What’s the matter? ” demanded Hippy. 

“Mr. Comstock sent me to warn you that he 
fears there is trouble ahead for you people. He 
has learned that Buffalo Face’s scouts have been 
stirring the Indians up and that, though he does 
not know how the Indians propose to annoy you, 
he fears that your camp may be rushed,” said the 
messenger. 

“ Let ’em rush! ” answered Hippy stubbornly. 
“We will be here after they have gone away.” 

“ I reckon you-all will,” agreed San Antone. 
“Mebby Buffalo Face will be heah too — till 
they carry him off.” 

“The Acting Agent has sent for Buffalo to 
warn him that he will be held personally re- 


216 


GRACE HARLOWE 


sponsible if you people, are subjected to annoy¬ 
ance/’ resumed the messenger. “ That is all very 
well, so far as it goes, but Buffalo Face will see 
to it that he is not involved. He will put the 
blame on others, and we won’t be able to prove 
that he isn’t telling the truth.” 

“ What does Mr. Comstock advise us to do? ” 
questioned Tom. 

“ He has directed me to ask you to move your 
camp at once — to do this especially as a favor 
to him. If you decide to remain he will do his 
best to protect you, but he fears that, in the 
present state of unrest on the reservation, the In¬ 
dians might get wholly out of control. It is not 
the Indian property owners, the farmers and 
stock raisers, but the roving bands that are caus¬ 
ing us so much trouble of late. Which way do 
you travel from here? ” 

“ Goldtown,” answered San Antone. 

“Then your best plan, upon leaving here, 
would be to go due north for five or six miles to 
Dade’s gulch; then you can head west again.” 

“What is to prevent the Indians following 
us? ” asked Tom. 

“ Oh, they are too busy dancing, and will be 
until sometime late to-morrow. By that time 
they will be so wrought up that the least little 
encouragement will start them going. If you 
take the route I suggest your departure is not 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


217 


likely to be observed by the Indians, most of 
whom are at the Omaha house.” 

“ What-all is goin' on up heah in these Hills 
gets me,” complained the guide, frowning heavily. 
“ What do you-all reckon it air? ” 

“ We don't know,” replied Carver. “ There is 
some influence at work that, if not checked, will 
lead to an uprising. We are nearer it now than 
we have been in many years. The Acting Agent 
is sorry to have to shorten your stay here, and 
asks you to excuse him for not coming in person 
to deliver his message. He thinks best to stick 
it out until the Omaha ends. What do you think 
you will do? ” 

Tom, Hippy and the guide consulted for a few 
moments before giving their answer. 

“We will move at once,” finally announced 
Tom. 

“ Thank you. Go as quietly as possible and 
without lights. I do not believe you will be ob¬ 
served.” Mr. Carver shook hands with the three 
men and started back to the reservation. 

“ This is a fine mess! What? ” jeered Hippy. 
“ Better turn out the girls. Tony, you get things 
going while we are dressing.” 

“Turn out! We have had orders to move,” 
called Tom at the girls' tent. “ I'll explain later. 
Be as quiet as possible.” 

San Antone's first act was to put out the camp- 


218 


GRACE HARLOWE 


fire, after which he began packing up. It was 
less than an hour later when the Overland party 
rode silently from their camp and headed north¬ 
ward under a moonless and starless sky, for the 
sky was overcast and threatened storm. The 
girls of the outfit had been informed of the situa¬ 
tion before camp was broken. 

Day was breaking when they reached Dade’s 
gulch, where they halted to cook their breakfast 
and discuss the reasons for their hasty move. The 
journey was resumed immediately after break¬ 
fast and continued until noon, at which time 
San Antone led the way up a narrow trail to the 
top of the gulch. He announced that they would 
make camp there until late in the afternoon. 

“ I reckon as you folks need sleep, an’ I want 
to scout ’bout and see if we air bein’ followed,” 
he explained. “ Mebby I won’t get back till late, 
so don’t you go to worryin’ ’bout me.” 

“Tony, don’t you go and lose yourself,” ad¬ 
monished Emma. “ If anything were to happen 
to you, you know it would break my poor heart.” 

San Antone flushed deeply under his tan. 

“ Thank ye, Miss Dean, but I don’t reckon that 
it air tender enough to git broke jest yet.” 

The Overlanders had a good laugh at Emma’s 
expense. Stacy declared that San Antone had 
told the truth, but that it would stand amplify¬ 
ing. Soon after that the guide went away and 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


219 


the Overlanders turned in for a much-needed 
sleep, Hippy alone remaining awake to see that 
the camp was not disturbed. 

The guide did not return until nearly six 
o’clock. He explained that he had been on a 
mountain on the other side of the gulch watch¬ 
ing nearly all the time, but it required a question 
from Miss Briggs to bring out the result of his 
observation. 

“No, I didn’t see any redskins, but I seen their 
smokes,” announced the Texan. “ They air up 
to mischief, so I reckon we’d better be gettin’ 
on an’ make camp late in the evenin’.” 

They took dinner before starting away, then 
rode on until midnight, making camp this time 
in the wildest part of the Hills that they had yet 
seen. Stacy was asleep in his saddle when they 
arrived, and Hippy declared that he also had had 
a real good nap on the way, and that he was ready 
for another night of it. 

“ What is your opinion about our being 
trailed? ” questioned Tom. “ Do you feel that 
we are? ” 

“ Don’t feel nothin’ at all. Ain’t likely to be 
Indians ’round heah before some time to-morrow; 
then we’ll hev to look a little out an’ keep close 
to our guns. We’re gettin’ in lonesome land 
now, an’ if they air goin’ to do anythin’ they’ll do 
it soon, I reckon.” 


220 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Hippy said he wished-he had his old army flying 
machine to scout with, whereupon Emma Dean 
averred that if Indians attacked them the Over¬ 
land Riders would see a flying machine in the 
shape of Emma Dean herself. 

They prevailed upon San Antone to turn in, 
Lieutenant Wingate promising to sit by the fire 
and watch and listen, but the guide refused to 
occupy Hippy’s tent. He said he would roll 
up in his blanket and rest for an hour. 

After the others had turned in and San Antone 
was snoring, Hippy threw a blanket over his own 
head, for the night was quite chill, and sat gazing 
into the fire. It was not long ere he was dozing. 
His head drooped forward, and little by little 
the blanket slipped from him. Finally Hippy 
followed the blanket and sank over on his side. 
This brought him awake instahtly, but as he 
straightened up, Lieutenant Wingate felt some¬ 
thing cold pressed against his neck. 

Every muscle in the Overland Rider’s body 
grew rigid, for Hippy knew that it was the muzzle 
of a revolver pressing against his neck with con¬ 
siderable force. 

“ Git up! ” hissed a voice in his ear. “ Make 
a sound an’ I’ll kill ye! ” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 221 


CHAPTER XXII 

HELD UP IN THE HILLS 

IEUTENANT WINGATE rose slowly to 



his feet, the muzzle of the revolver slid- 


—* ing firmly down his back, followed by 
creeping chills along his spinal column. He 
glanced quickly at the guide, but San Antone was 
sleeping soundly, snoring rhythmically if not 
musically. 

“ Go straight ahead, but if you-all make a noise 
it’ll be the last! ” threatened the man behind him 
in a whisper. 

“ What do you want? ” demanded Hippy in as 
loud a whisper as he dared utter. 

“ Shet up! Do ye-all want to die? ” 

San Antone stirred, his snoring, that had hesi¬ 
tated for a second, began again at full strength, 
and at this juncture Hippy’s revolver was 
snatched from its holster and dropped to the 
ground by his captor. A slight thud occurred as 
the weapon struck the ground. 

The guide sat up like a flash, but before he 
fully comprehended the significance of the scene, 


222 


GRACE HARLOWE 


a commanding voice from the bushes stayed the 
hand that was about to fly to his holster. 

“ Hands up! ” 

San Antone knew what those two words meant. 
He had not only heard them many times before, 
but on various occasions had uttered them him¬ 
self. A glance told him that he had been caught 
napping. Four men just outside the bushes that 
surrounded the camp suddenly stood revealed, 
their rifles leveled at the guide. He saw instantly 
that they were white men, though their faces 
were covered with red bandana handkerchiefs in 
which holes had been cut for the eyes, the hand¬ 
kerchiefs being fastened somewhere up under 
the men’s hats. 

San Antone’s hands went slowly above his 
head. 

“ That’s the way to do it. Fetch that other 
feller out here! ” ordered one of the four, where¬ 
upon Hippy was slowly and cautiously propelled 
forward, and a moment later was being securely 
bound to a tree. 

“ Now t’other one,” directed the same voice as 
before. San Antone was narrowly watching, 
waiting for the opportunity to snap out his own 
weapon and get into action. ' 

The bandit, for such Hippy supposed the man 
to be, approached San Antone in a wide circuit, 
coming up behind him, apparently knowing that 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


223 


the guide was dangerous. The fellow approached 
between San Antone and the Overland tents, 
moving with extreme caution, revolver in hand, 
ready for instant action, and all this time the 
guide’s ears were straining to catch the footfalls 
of the man behind him. 

A leap and a vicious blow from the butt of the 
revolver was struck at the Texan’s head, but in¬ 
stead of reaching the mark aimed at the revolver- 
butt struck San Antone on the shoulder, because 
at that instant the guide had jerked his head to 
one side. 

San Antone’s hand flashed to his weapon, but 
ere he could draw it his arms were pinioned 
to his sides, and he was forced to the ground, with 
the crushing weight of a heavy body on him, tug¬ 
ging at his weapon to free it for action. All the 
while San Antone was struggling and writhing in 
the grip of his adversary. The Texan was wiry, 
but as he had often told the Overlanders, he 
“ could not fight.” 

The two men rolled on the ground, struggling 
desperately, but without making disturbance 
sufficient to arouse the sleeping Overlanders. 

At last San Antone succeeded in reaching the 
trigger of his weapon and fired through the 
leather holster, the bullet grazing the body of the 
attacking ruffian. 

One of the four men on guard sprang to his 


224 


GRACE HARLOWE 


companion’s assistance, when Tom Gray, awak¬ 
ened by San Antone’s shot, ran from his tent. 

“ Hands up! ” was the sharp command that 
greeted him, whereupon Tom’s hands promptly 
went above his head. 

The rest of the Overland party, not many 
seconds behind Tom, ran from their tents, and 
they, too, were brought up standing by the threats 
of the attackers. At that instant, San Antone 
was dealt a crushing blow on the head with the 
butt of a revolver. The Texan sank back, utter¬ 
ing a moan. 

Stacy Brown now made a sudden bolt for his 
tent, but a rifle thrust in his face led him in¬ 
stantly to throw up his hands and come to a halt. 

“ I reckon that’ll be about all fer this outfit,” 
drawled one of the men. “ Anybody else in them 
tents? ” 

No one answered, so the questioner searched 
the tents and announced “ All out.” 

“You will suffer for this outrage when Tony 
wakes up,” threatened Emma Dean. 

“ You-all keep still or you’ll git it the way he 
did,” warned a gruff voice. 

“ I won’t keep still! I’ll make all the noise I 
want to. It’s my privilege to have the last word, 
and I’m going to have my rights.” Emma uttered 
a shrill scream that might have been heard at 
some distance. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


225 


In the meantime San Antone’s hands were be¬ 
ing bound behind his back, for which purpose he 
was flung over on his face. He was then dis¬ 
armed, after which Tom and Stacy were treated in 
a like manner and the Overland men, with the 
exception of the guide, who was still unconscious, 
were stood on their feet. 

Emma’s scream led the ruffians to make haste, 
and by the time they had herded the girls together 
and bound Stacy and Tom, San Antone was sit¬ 
ting up. He spoke no word, but his eyes were 
blazing as they took in every detail of the men 
who had attacked the outfit. 

“ Git up! ” commanded the fellow who had 
struck him. “ Git funny an’ I’ll settle ye right 
smart. You woman! ” he snarled, turning to 
Emma, ‘ one more yelp out o’ ye an’ I’ll put a 
quietus on ye that’ll last you-all fer a week o’ 
Sundays! ” 

Emma uttered a shrill, piercing scream. 

“ Now what do you propose to do about it? ” 
she demanded. “ I’ll scream louder next time 
and I’ll scream so loud that someone else will 
hear me. You are too big a coward to try to 
make me stop. Stop me if you dare! ” she chal¬ 
lenged. 

The ruffian started for her, enraged beyond 
control. 

“ Cut it out! ” commanded one who appeared 


16 - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


226 


GRACE HARLOWE 


to be the leader of the ruffians. “ We ain’t got no 
time fer foolishness. You folks line up in pairs 
an’ foller me. I promise ye that if anybody gits 
funny he’ll git a bullet through him, an’ that’s 
no lie.” 

“Want to take any of the stuff heah?” de¬ 
manded one. 

“Naw! We got what we come for. Ain’t 
that enough? March! ” 

The leader started away, looking back to see 
that his orders were being obeyed. 

“ Keep watch o’ them wimmin,” he warned. 
“ I don’t trust ’em a-tall.” 

“ Hippy, shall I cut the rope on your wrists? ” 
whispered Elfreda, who was directly behind him. 

“ What’s the use? I have no guns, and they 
would take it out of us if they discovered that 
I had been tampered with,” replied Hippy. 

“ I can cut it a little so that you can break it 
perhaps if necessary.” 

“Yes. But be careful,” he warned. 

Elfreda accomplished the rope-cutting without 
detection. 

“ I have dropped my little automatic into your 
right-hand coat pocket,” whispered Miss Briggs. 
“ Please don’t use it unless absolutely necessary.” 

“ Thanks,” muttered Hippy briefly. 

The captives were driven on for some little 
distance and then halted. The captors held a 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


227 


brief discussion and then proceeded to tie the 
hands of each Overland girl behind her with her 
own handkerchief, but so firmly that no amount 
of straining could loosen the knot. The entire 
party were then herded in an old miner’s shack 
before which they had stopped. 

“ Folks! ” said the leader. “ You-all kin git out 
if you want to, but ye won’t git fur. You’ll be 
shot afore you git ten paces away. The winder 
is open, but there’s a rifle trained on it. Climb 
out if you want to.” 

“Wait a moment,” called Tom. “Will you 
tell me why we have been treated in this manner? 
What do you want of us and who do you think 
we are? ” 

“ I reckon we know who you be an’ why we 
took you. Now shet up or I’ll give you-all a 
wallop on the head.” 

The leader stepped out and slammed and 
fastened the door of the shack. 

“San Antone, what do you think?” whispered 
Emma. 

“What I think, Miss, ain’t fit fer you-all to 
hear, I reckon. I’m thinkin’ what I air goin’ to 
do to them fellers when I get out of heah, an’ 
thet’s goin’ to be mighty soon, I reckon,” de¬ 
clared the guide. “ Everybody keep out of range 
of thet window. I’m goin’ to see if I can git out* 
If I do, you-all stay heah till I come back.” 


228 


GRACE HARLOWE 


San Antone stepped to the window and peered 
out. There followed a flash only a few yards 
away, the heavy report of a rifle, and a bullet 
splintered the window casing close to his head. 

“ I reckon I ain’t goin’ out jest yet,” he decided. 
“ Thet feller shore can shoot,” drawled the guide. 

Hippy gave a heavy tug at his bonds and freed 
himself. 

“ Wait! My hands are untied. I’ll let you all 
loose now,” he said. He first released the girls 
and then the men of the party. 

“ I reckon we’ve got to wait till daylight. It 
ain’t safe fer us to try to get out, ’cause some of 
us shore would get winged, seein’ thet them 
fellers know how to shoot. I reckon — ” 

San Antone was interrupted by a heavy thud 
on the floor of the shack. 

“ What’s thet? ” he demanded sharply. 

“ Something came in through the window! ” 
answered Nora in an awed whisper. 

Lieutenant Wingate and the guide, crouching 
low, crept towards the open window. They were 
certain that it was not an animal that had leaped 
in, but if not they had no idea what it might be 
that they were facing. 

“ I got it. It’s a sack! ” exclaimed the guide. 

He cautiously ran his hands into the bag after 
feeling of the outside, then grasping Hippy’s 
hand, he thrust it into the bag. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


229 


“Wha—at! ” gasped Hippy. 

“ Folks, I reckon thar is some queer doin’s 
’round heah. Our guns is all in this heah bag 
thet someone has throwed in through the win¬ 
dow/’ announced San Antone in his usual con¬ 
fident drawl. “ What do you-all ’low fer thet? ” 
The Overlanders uttered exclamations of won¬ 
der, and they were still wondering when the re¬ 
port of a rifle close at hand woke the echoes in 
the Hills. The report was followed by what 
seemed to be the crashing sound of many rifles in 
action, report following report in quick succes¬ 
sion. Then a deep silence settled over the scene* 
broken only by the heavy breathing of the Over¬ 
land Riders in the deserted shack. 


230 


GRACE HARLOWE 


CHAPTER XXIII 

THE RED MAN’S REVENGE 

HE Riders crouched waiting, with 



weapons now in hand, for the better 


part of an hour, conversing in low whis¬ 


pers, not knowing what the next second might 
bring forth. 

“ Tony, why are we sitting here like so many 
bumps on a log? ” finally demanded Lieutenant 
Wingate. 

“ I reckon we might as well get back to camp 
if we can. I’ll try it first an’ see if the way is 
clear and then come back fer you folks,” replied 
the guide. 

“ If you go I go,” announced Emma. “ Come, 
let’s not be tenderfeet like Stacy.” 

Grace and Elfreda said they agreed with Miss 
Dean, but San Antone announced that they were 
to remain where they were while he scouted about 
to see if he could draw the fire of their captors, 
and that, in the meantime, the party must keep 
away from the window. He crawled out a mo¬ 
ment later and disappeared in the night. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


231 


“ Don’t seem to be nobody ’bout heah,” he an¬ 
nounced upon his return some little time later. 
“ I reckon we can go on now.” 

The Overlanders quickly climbed out through 
the window, and began their journey to their own 
camp, speaking in whispers and only when ab¬ 
solutely necessary. They found their camp de¬ 
serted, the campfire now only a bed of coals. 

“ Nothing appears to have been disturbed 
here,” announced Tom. “ Do you think that 
shooting was started by Indians, Tony? ” 

“No. Heah! Lookit! Heah’s somethin’ fer 
you,” spoke up the guide, pointing to a piece of 
paper pinned to the girls’ tent. 

Elfreda ran forward and removed the paper. 

“Here is another message for us! ” she cried 
wonderingly. 

“Read it, please,” directed Tom. 

“ ‘ Overlanders! ’ ” began Miss Briggs, holding 
the sheet near the glowing coals, which San 
Antone stirred for her. “ i Break camp at once, 
leaving by the gulch. Go on to Goldtown. The 
enemy has gone north. They’ll be back, but 
won’t pick up your trail for some time. Make 
camp at Goldtown and wait if you would serve 
a friend. Protection will be at hand, but be 
cautious.’ ” 

“ It’s a trick to place us where they want us,” 
declared Tom Gray. 


232 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I don’t agree with you/’ answered Miss 
Briggs. “ If I am any judge of handwriting, this 
is the same writing that was on the last message 
we received from our unknown friend. What is 
your judgment, Mr. Bennett? ” she asked, ad¬ 
dressing the guide. 

“ Leavin’ off answerin’ to the ‘ Mister,’ I 
reckon mebby you’re right. Anyhow, this ain’t 
no place fer us, an’ I reckon we’d better be gettin’ 
out hot foot.” 

After the others had examined the message 
and discussed it, the Overlanders decided to fol¬ 
low the advice of their unknown friend, but they 
were perplexed. They began to realize that they 
were the object of some mysterious purpose, and 
to suspect that they were, in a way, being used 
to further that purpose, as Miss Briggs very 
frankly observed, though what it might be they 
had not the slightest idea. 

Preparations for leaving were immediately be¬ 
gun, San Antone guarding the camp well during 
the operation to see that no prowlers interfered 
with them, and while so doing, the guide’s mind 
was occupied in trying to find the reason for the 
attack on them by white men. He made no 
progress in this direction, however. It was as 
much a mystery to him as it was to his charges. 

The packing was finished in quick time, then 
mounting their ponies the Overland Riders, led 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


233 


by the guide, picked their way down the steep 
trail into the gulch in which they had previously 
traveled, every ear on the alert for trouble, every 
rifle ready for instant use. The party continued 
on in this way until daylight through the peace¬ 
ful fragrant night, the only disturbance being 
the occasional howl of a coyote. A hurried 
breakfast was eaten, following which the journey 
was resumed. 

Goldtown was reached without further inci¬ 
dent shortly after noon that day, and by then the 
spirits of the Overland Riders had been fully 
restored. They regarded the queer-looking place 
with inquiring eyes. The town consisted of a 
collection of houses and odd-looking buildings, 
located on a rise of ground, from which radiated 
gulches and canyons in all directions. The Over¬ 
landers rode into the principal street, which, to 
their amazement, they found to be grown up with 
rank grass and stunted bushes. 

“ Where are the folks? ” cried Stacy. 

“Thar ain’t none except ourselves,” replied 
the guide. 

“ A deserted city? ” questioned Grace. 

“Yes.” 

“ Hooray! ” cried Emma. “ Isn’t this perfectly 
and adorably romantic? ” 

“ It’s yours,” offered the guide, grinning 
broadly at Emma’s enthusiasm. 


234 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I will take that big square house for mine," 
announced Stacy. “ If I don't like the view I'll 
move to another one." 

“ Too big fer you-all. Thet's the Goldtown 
Palace Hotel," San Antone informed him. 

“ That will be all right. I am a fat man and 
need a big place. Where is the post office? I 
want to mail a letter home. Can I get a hot 
bath in the hotel? " 

“What was the reason for abandoning this 
place? " interrupted Tom. 

“ Gold played out. You-all can see the ruins 
of stamp mills an' smelters all 'round heah. 
Thar’s some queer stories told 'bout this heah 
place, too." 

“ Why not organize a city government? " sug¬ 
gested Elfreda. “ I nominate Thomas Gray for 
Mayor." 

“Rah! Rah! Speech!” howled Stacy. “I’ll 
be chief of police, and I'll shut this town up 
tight." 

“ Then as the nominee for Mayor of this city, I 
would suggest that we establish a suitable head¬ 
quarters," suggested Tom laughingly. 

Laughing and chattering, the Overland Riders 
rode up the street and soon dismounted at a spot 
selected by the guide for their camp. Stacy im¬ 
mediately cut a birch sapling to a three foot 
length, peeled the bark off, and obtaining a 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


235 


quarter-inch rope, fastened the rope to the stick, 
attaching the other end to his belt. 

“ For goodness sake, what are you doing? ” 
wondered Nora. 

“ That is the big stick. It's my badge of office.” 

While the guide was busying himself putting 
the finishing touches to the camp, the rest of the 
party strolled away on an exploring tour. Doors 
were open, and in most instances hanging by one 
hinge, windows were smashed in, and the town 
generally was a wreck. In some of the buildings 
there werer evidences of recent habitation. San 
Antone, when they told him of this, after their re¬ 
turn to camp, evinced considerable interest, but 
what was in his mind he did not say. 

Night came on all too soon, and with it a silver 
moon. 

“ I think that the chief of police should make 
his rounds now and see that all is well,” suggested 
Emma. 

“ This chief of police doesn't make rounds,” re¬ 
turned Stacy. “ Besides, there isn't another hu¬ 
man being here to disturb the peace, and — ” 

A long-drawn, piercing human wail awakened 
the echoes of the night. 

“ Oh, wow! ” howled the chief of police, making 
a dive for his tent. 

“ Wha—at is it? ” wondered Nora in a weak 
voice. 


236 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I forgot to tell ye ’bout thet. I have heard 
thet this heah place is haunted — thet thar’s 
ghosts heah.” 

Nora uttered a cry of alarm. 

“How adorable!” bubbled Emma. “A real 
ghost, Tony? ” 

“ I don’t know as I reckon what a real ghost is. 
I always s’posed thet a ghost wa’n’t real,” 
answered the guide. 

“ Ghosts! Pooh! ” jeered Tom Gray. 

The wild wailing cry was repeated, whereupon 
Stacy pulled his blanket over his head. 

“ Where is that chief of police? We’ll set him 
on the ghost trail and have him make an investi¬ 
gation,” announced Hippy, proceeding to Stacy’s 
tent and hauling the boy out. “ Go out and do 
your duty! ” 

“ I don’t want to investigate,” wailed the fat 
boy. “ I don’t want to be chief of police. I re¬ 
sign. Understand? I quit! There’s too much 
graft in this town for an honest man like me.” 

“ There it is now! ” exclaimed Nora. “ I see a 
light! ” 

Hippy ran stumbling towards the light, but the 
light did not appear to move. As he neared it 
he saw that it was held aloft, then all at once 
he made out the white face of a woman, her skin 
almost like wrinkled parchment, eyes that were 
deep set and wild, while about the head and face 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


237 


clung a mass of tangled hair that, in the faint 
rays of the light, showed ghostly white. 

Hippy could not repress a shiver, for the face 
before him seemed unreal, while the eyes, wild and 
staring, gazed at him fearsomely. 

Pulling himself sharply together, Lieutenant 
Wingate sprang forward, stretching out both 
hands to grasp the ghostly figure, but his hands 
merely closed over a thorn bush. The light sud¬ 
denly went out, and the woman, uttering a pierc¬ 
ing scream, disappeared. 

“ Did you get her? ” cried Emma Dean, run¬ 
ning up to Hippy who was breathing heavily from 
excitement and exertion. 

“ No, I didn’t.” Hippy was mopping perspira¬ 
tion from his forehead. 

“ Was it a really truly ghost? ” begged Emma. 

“ I don’t know about that. It looked like an 
old woman — it was an old woman. I don’t be¬ 
lieve in ghosts. Let’s go back.” 

“ I want to see the ghost. Shall we go into the 
old smelter here and see if we can find her? ” asked 
Emma. 

“ We will not.” 

“ Never in all my experience have I seen such 
tenderfeet as the men of this party,” complained 
Emma. “ Give me a lantern and I’ll go in. I am 
not afraid of ghosts. I think they are wonderful 
— so spiritual, so helpless, so ethereal, so — ” 


238 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“So nothing!” growled Lieutenant Wingate, 
striding away. “ Hey, there! What’s the matter 
with you, Tony? ” he called as they neared the 
camp. “ Why didn’t you come along and lay the 
ghost with your little gun? I believe you are 
afraid, old timer,” accused Hippy laughingly. 

“ Mebby I be,” answered the guide sourly. “ I 
shore ain’t afraid of anything thet is. It’s the 
things thet ain’t thet get my goat.” 

The campfire was flickering and crackling in the 
gentle breeze that had sprung up, and the moon¬ 
beams were sliding down the sides of the moun¬ 
tains as the Overlanders began plying Hippy with 
questions. Grace said the cries that the supposed 
ghost had uttered, reminded her of those she and 
Elfreda had heard on the night of their captivity. 

“ If that’s so, this ghost must be some walker 
to get where she now is,” observed Tom. 

“ Silly! ” admonished Emma. “ That shows 
how little you know about spiritual things. 
Ghosts don’t walk — ghosts soar — flit hither and 
yon,” she informed them, waving her hands to 
imitate a gentle flight through the air. 

“ Oh, fiddlesticks! ” jeered Stacy, who had come 
out from his tent to learn whether or not his 
Uncle Hip had laid the ghost. 

“ Sh-h-h-h! ” warned San Antone. “ Someone 
is coming. Hello, there! Stand out and show 
yourself before I shoot,” he commanded. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


239 


“ It’s the squaw-buck! ” cried Grace, as Red 
Wolf, panting, leaning forward until he was 
nearly doubled up, came running into camp at a 
characteristic Indian lope, feet thrust straight 
ahead and every joint working loosely. That he 
had run far was apparent to the Overlanders, it 
being unusual for an Indian to be so winded. 

Red Wolf cast himself at the feet of Lieutenant 
Wingate. 

“ What is it? ” demanded the guide sternly. 

The “ squaw ” began jabbering in his own 
tongue, to which San Antone listened with close 
attention, now and then interposing a question in 
the Sioux language. 

“ He says thet Buffalo Face, with twenty-five 
braves, has been huntin’ ever since we left the 
reservation,” the Texan informed his party. “ He 
says they started huntin’ over the southern trail, 
sendin’ a scout up to the northern trail. Thet 
scout met a white man ’bout twenty miles from 
heah, an’ thet the white man told him whar he 
reckoned we’d gone. The scout then went back 
fur enough to make smoke signals, which Buffalo 
Face answered, and is now on his way to Gold- 
town. He’ll be heah to-night! ” 

The Overland Riders gazed into each others’ 
faces, a troubled look in their eyes. 

“Git yer guns an’ ammunition. Fetch yer 
blankets an’ some grub. Do it on the jump, 


240 


GRACE HARLOWE 


’cause we ain’t got any time to lose. Leave yer 
packs heah.” 

“Ye—es! ” stammered Stacy. “I’d a heap 
sight rather leave my pack than my scalp. 
Whe—re are we going? ” 

“ We’ll hide up fer the rest of the night in the 
old mill whar the ghost is. They won’t dare come 
near thet place, I reckon — leastwise if she lets 
out one of them howls of hers. Rush it, folks! 
The Buffalo gang has got us heah whar they 
wants us, and I reckon we’ll hev to fight if we 
saves our skins,” announced San Antone, his 
voice now a cool, easy drawl. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


241 


CHAPTER XXIV 


THE FLAMING ARROW 


N 


O, no! Not go there,” objected the 
Indian. “ Me show.” 

“Goon! Why not?” 


“ Tamahnous!” muttered the Indian. 

“ He says the place is haunted,” interpreted the 
guide, “ an’ I reckon he-all is right. You show, 
* Squaw/ ” 

Red Wolf led the way to a mill half way up 
the gulch-side, the Overlanders following and 
leading their ponies, for they had no intention of 
leaving them for the Indians to steal. Arriving at 
the mill, the ponies were led in and tied. 

“ I reckon we ought to get word to the Agency 
'or the fort right smart,” suggested San Antone. 
“ We may be able to hold them critters off, but 
we never will get out of these heah Hills alive so 
long as Buffalo's crazy braves is after us. Nobody 
never comes heah, so we can’t look fer any help 
thet way. ‘ Squaw! ’ You-all got to go to the 
Agency and get soldiers. Take one of the ponies.” 

“Me go. Me go foot, not pony. Not go 


16 - Grace Harlowe in Black Hills 


242 


GRACE HARLOWE 


Agency. Me know where good white men wait. 
Me fix.” 

The Indian was off at a lope ere they could 
question him as to what he meant. San Antone 
then began looking over their surroundings. Be¬ 
low them in the moonlight lay the haunted mill, 
silent and deserted, but the building they were 
occupying stood in the shadow of a mountain. As 
they gazed off over the valley, clouds began blot¬ 
ting out the moonlight, gathering for a storm, as 
San Antone announced. 

“ Make no lights, folks,” he directed. 

“ That’s right. Perhaps they will not know 
where we are,” agreed Hippy. 

“ I reckon it won’t take ’em long to find out,” 
answered the guide, who thereupon gave his 
charges explicit directions as to what to do. He 
then announced that he would go out and scout 
for a time. 

The old mill settled down to its customary si¬ 
lence, the Overlanders gazing from the windows 
with expectant eyes, but the night was by now so 
dark that they could see for only a short distance 
away. Two hours of anxiety passed, when a sud¬ 
den exclamation from Emma called her com¬ 
panions to her. 

“ Look! A shooting star! How beautiful! ” 

They reached Emma’s point of observation in 
a window just in time to see a reddish point of 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


243 


light drop behind a building not far from their 
hiding place. 

“ There goes another! ” cried Nora. 

“ Those aren’t shooting stars,” declared Grace. 

“ No! They air flaming arrows,” answered a 
voice under the window. “ The redskins hev 
come! ” 

“Tony!” gasped Emma. “ Oh, I’m so glad 
you have come back. What are they doing? ” 

“ Tryin’ to set thet buildin’ on fire, an’ I reckon 
they hev done it,” he made reply, as a faint light 
was seen on the opposite side of the building. 
“ Thar’s some folks heah besides Indians, too. 
I’ve seen ’em twice since I been out. Ye see, the 
redskins air makin’ a fire so they can see. I 
reckon they know whar we be, but it don’t make 
much difference. When it gets light from the fire, 
you folks keep away from the windows an’ out 
of range of ’em. Don’t shoot unless I tell ye to.” 

The Texan climbed in through the window and 
resumed his watching from there. It was but a 
few moments before the other building began to 
glow, then flames shot up, lighting the landscape 
in all directions, throwing the radiating gulches 
into even deeper shadows. Strain their eyes as 
they might, however, not a human being was any¬ 
where to be seen. 

“Thar’s a critter! ” cried the guide. 

Stacy saw him at the same time. The fat boy, 


244 


GRACE HARLOWE 


forgetful of the guide’s warning, threw up his rifle 
and fired at the head he had seen above the tops 
of the bushes farther down in the village. 

“ Take thet gun away from him! Get away 
from the windows! ” commanded the guide 
sternly, himself crouching down. The others fol¬ 
lowed his example and threw themselves on the 
floor, and just in time, for a volley of rifle bullets 
crunched through the boarding of the mill, send¬ 
ing a shower of splinters over them. 

“ Sha—all we shoot back? ” begged Miss 
Briggs. 

“No! We’ll need our ammunition later.” 

“You poor fish! You did it that time,” 
growled Lieutenant Wingate, snatching the rifle 
from Stacy. “ They know where we are now, and 
we shall be fortunate if we aren’t all killed.” 

“ Watch the back of the buildin’. Don’t let ’em 
play any tricks on us — ” The guide suddenly 
threw up his rifle and fired at a running figure 
some distance down the slope. He missed, and 
ducked back in time to avoid a quick return fire. 
“ Them critters mean business. I nevah could 
shoot,” he grumbled. 

The words were still on San Antone’s lips when 
a wild, weird scream echoed through the building, 
bringing apprehensive, half-smothered cries from 
the girls of the Overland party. 

“ It is the ghost-woman! ” wailed Nora. “ She 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


245 


is here, in this very building. Let me get out. 
I can’t stand it! ” 

“ Sit down! ” commanded Hippy sternly, and 
the roar of a score of rifles punctuated his words. 

“ You women lay down. You men get ready to 
shoot. They air gettin’ closer, creepin’ up through 
the bushes. I can see the bushes wavin’ down 
below. Stop! Don’t shoot at thet fellow! ” cried 
San Ant one as Tom Gray threw up his rifle to 
take a shot at the figure of an Indian staggering 
towards the old mill. “ It’s the ‘ squaw.’ He’s 
been hit. Thet’s too bad.” 

Red Wolf paused, swayed and toppled over. 
Hippy, who had sprung to the front of the build¬ 
ing, took one look, then leaped out and ran to¬ 
wards the “ squaw.” 

“ Come back heah! You-all’ll be hit! ” shouted 
San Antone. 

Lieutenant Wingate gave no heed to the warn¬ 
ing, but ran to the fallen “ squaw,” in the face of 
a scattering fire of bullets. In the light of the 
burning building, the Overlander made a shining 
mark, but not a bullet reached him. He gathered 
up the disgraced buck and dragged him back to 
the mill, where willing hands assisted in lifting 
Red Wolf into the building. 

“ Heap Big Medicine,” muttered Red Wolf. 

11 Are you much hurt? ” questioned Lieutenant 
Wingate. 


246 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“Yes. Me go. Great Spirit him say come! 
But me kill um Buffalo Face! ” he cried, his voice 
suddenly loud and strong. Red Wolf rose to one 
elbow. “ Me kill um with um rifle. Me brave! ” 
he thundered. “ Me no squaw now. Me kill Buf¬ 
falo Chief. Me big buck. Me— Big Medi¬ 
cine! ” he added, his voice sinking to a whisper, 
then into the great silence. Hippy Wingate laid 
him down with gentle hands. 

“ He’s gone,” said Hippy. 

“ Only a ‘ squaw,’ but the bravest of the brave,” 
murmured Grace Harlowe, then, as rifles roared 
again down the slope, now nearer at hand, the 
attention of the Overland Riders was turned to 
defending themselves. 

“ Hark! ” warned San Antone as a volley of 
shots was fired from the left of their position. 

“ That is another party,” exclaimed Hippy. 

“ Yes. An’ they air firin’ at the redskins,” an¬ 
swered the guide. “ I reckon the ‘ squaw ’ got ’em 
heah, but how they got heah so soon beats me. 
I — ” San Antone suddenly threw up his rifle 
and began shooting. Hippy and Tom did like¬ 
wise, for Indians were seen running, skulking 
away in all directions. At this juncture the burn¬ 
ing building collapsed with a loud crash, a shower 
of sparks were hurled into the air, and the light 
was dimmed in a cloud of smoke, making further 
shooting from the old mill futile. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


247 


Out there in the darkness the rifle fire became 
scattering, a running fire, it seemed to the anxious 
listening Overlanders, and after a few minutes 
that, too, died out. 

“ I reckon thet’s 'bout all,” drawled San Antone. 
“ But we got to watch out, so keep yer eyes 
peeled.” 

“Is it?” cried Emma, as a volley of muffled 
shots were heard, the sound seeming to be right 
under their feet. The shots were instantly fol¬ 
lowed by the wild, piercing shrieks of the “ ghost 
woman.” 

“ Oh, this is terrible! ” wailed Nora who was 
sobbing hysterically. 

“ It’s down under the buildin’, too,” announced 
San Antone. 

The shooting beneath their hiding place ceased 
as suddenly as it had begun, nor did they again 
hear the shrieks of the “ ghost woman.” The 
Overland Eiders, alert and watchful, waited with 
every nerve tensed until the long trying night 
came to an end and day began to dawn. As soon 
as there was light enough to see they laid Red 
Wolf tenderly away just back of the old mill, 
burying his rifle beside him, for were there not' 
Happy Hunting Grounds in the land to which he 
had gone? It was a duty that saddened and 
sobered every member of that little party, for the 
humble squaw-buck had been a friend indeed. 


248 


GRACE HARLOWE 


“ I reckon we better look ’bout a little before 
we start out/’ advised the guide as the sun came 
up and they were enabled to get a clearer view of 
their surroundings. “ Hey! Will ye look at thet? 
I reckoned on somethin’ like thet,” he cried. 

The Overlanders running to him saw the Man 
in Black coming up the slope towards the old mill, 
his sack over his shoulder, his long black coat 
whipping in the morning breeze. 

“Professor Black! ” cried the girls in a glad 
tone. 

“How! ” greeted the professor cheerily as he 
trotted up to them. “ Are you all right? ” 

“Perfectly all right, sir,” answered Emma. 
“ This is a happy surprise.” 

“ Oh, we are so glad to see you! ” greeted Grace. 
“What happened to the Indians? Perhaps you 
may be able to explain this and other mysteries 
to us. I have a strong thought that you can.” 

“Ah! 

“ The Ippy Do-Do is a rare old bird, 

A rare old bird is he,” 

chanted the professor. 

“ Many mysteries of the Hills there were, but 
mysteries they are no longer,” added the professor 
jovially as he threw down his pack. 

“Red Wolf is daid,” interjected San Antone. 
“ What do you-all reckon you know ’bout thet? ” 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


249 


“ Yes, I know. Too bad,” murmured Professor 
Black. “ I know other things, too — things that 
you good people would like to hear, such, for in¬ 
stance, as your wonder over the excitement that 
you have stirred up in the Hills. But then there 
is always excitement where the Overlanders are.” 

“ Not like this,” declared Elfreda Briggs with 
emphasis. “ This is a little too much.” 

“ You may not have suspected it, but since the 
revenue officers have been making life miserable 
for the Kentucky moonshiners, a lot of them have 
come to the Hills to carry on their nefarious busi¬ 
ness. They got old Buffalo Face to assist them in 
driving out the revenue men who followed them 
here, and to frighten away all suspicious strangers. 
Buffalo shared in the profits of their operations, 
and was making more money than he ever 
dreamed of. Wild Tree was one of his chief 
aids — ” 

“ Was? ” questioned Miss Briggs. 

“Yes. Wild Tree was seriously wounded in 
the fighting last night, and is now on his way to 
the fort, where he will be tried as soon as he gets 
well. Red Wolf killed Buffalo Face in a stand-up 
battle, man to man. The ‘ squaw ’ wiped the 
slate clean and restored himself to his former posi¬ 
tion as a buck among bucks, even if he did kill a 
chief. It served Buffalo right, for he has been 
responsible for the killing of several Government 


250 


GRACE HARLOWE 


agents in these Hills. Too bad they got the Wolf 
when he was hurrying to you to help you.” 

“ Who are the moonshiners? ” questioned Grace 
Harlowe. 

“ The leaders are Bat Spurgeon, Lum Bangs, a 
fellow who calls himself Swinton, but whose name 
is Shade Jones — ” 

“Thet’s the cayuse thet collected the price of 
the cow,” growled San Antone. 

“ Ah! I begin to understand,” muttered Hippy. 

“ There is also the fellow who tried to pass him¬ 
self off on you people as Jim Oakley, but who is a 
Virginia mountaineer and a moonshiner,” added 
the Man in Black. “ They plied their trade largely 
right under this building, and that is where the 
revenue agents, entering the place through a 
former miners’ tunnel from the mill below, caught 
the law breakers, and after a quick battle captured 
every one of the leaders.” 

“ Bat Spurgeon and Lum Bangs! ” exclaimed 
Grace. “ Girls, those names revive old memories.” 

“Yes. They are the men who caused us so 
much trouble when we were in the Kentucky 
Mountains,” agreed Elfreda with a nod. “ Pro¬ 
fessor, do you know anything about a supposed 
crazy woman or ghost that has frightened every¬ 
one except ourselves away from this place? ” 

“ I know. She is real flesh and blood, the widow 
of a miner who was killed by renegade Indians. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


251 


She is crazy, as you say — mildly insane — and 
the moonshiners have used her by teaching her to 
play the ghost and scream and carry on whenever 
strangers were about. They took her with them 
to the old smelter where two of you young women 
were carried after your capture, with the intention 
of turning you over to her and frightening you 
into making admissions about your purpose in be¬ 
ing in the Hills. You see the moonshine crowd 
suspected that you had some connection with the 
Government agents, and that they had some rea¬ 
son for so thinking, I must admit. We have sent 
her on to the fort with the prisoners.” 

“ Yes. But who saved our scalps last night? ” 
demanded Hippy. 

“ It was the same revenue officers who had a 
brief duel under this mill later in the evening, for 
the moonshiners, with one or two exceptions, 
when they saw that the battle had gone against 
old Buffalo's braves, quickly ran to their hiding 
place. The revenue men were led to the attack on 
the Indians by Red Wolf.” 

“ I say, stranger! Ain't it curious thet you hap¬ 
pen to know so much 'bout all this heah? ” 
drawled San Antone, a heavy frown wrinkling his 
forehead. “ I reckon it’s time for you-all to make 
a show-down.” 

As he talked the Overland girls had begun to 
wonder anew about Professor Black. His voice 


252 


GRACE HARLOWE 


seemed to have grown deeper and to hold a more 
familiar note than before, but there was an elusive 
quality about it that perplexed them. 

“ San Antone, I reckon you’re right,” chuckled 
the Man in Black, sweeping off his dark spectacles, 
revealing a pair of twinkling blue eyes and a smil¬ 
ing face. 

“ Jeremiah Long!” cried the Overlanders in 
chorus. 

“ Our old Mystery Man! Is it possible! ” won¬ 
dered Elfreda Briggs. “ Our good friend from 
the Kentucky Mountains who caught the 
moonshiners there and did us so many, many 
favors.” 

“ Oh, girls! Isn’t this a perfectly adorable sur¬ 
prise? ” bubbled Emma Dean. 

“ Be you-all a revenue officer? ” demanded San 
Antone. 

“ Is he? You bet he is, Tony. Pardon the 
slang, but it expresses my feelings exactly,” said 
Emma. “ Mr. Long is the chief revenue officer of 
the force, and they never will find his equal. 
Tony, isn’t this perfectly exciting? ” 

“ Then that Ippy Do-Do thing was all a fake? ” 
questioned Stacy sourly, after the Overlanders 
had shaken hands with their old friend the Mys¬ 
tery Man. 

“A fake? Mercy, no! Haven’t you heard?” 
cried Jeremiah. 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


253 


“ About all I’ve heard are yells and screeches, a 
few shots and somebody urging me to get up out 
of a sound sleep and run,” complained Stacy. 

“ Indeed! I caught the monster Ippy Do-Do 
two days ago. Here! ” The Mystery Man care¬ 
fully unwrapped a paper from a piece of stone, 
adjusted a magnifying glass over the stone and 
held them towards the fat boy. “ Look, and you 
shall see,” he directed. 

“ It looks to me like a flea,” jeered Stacy. 

“ Young man! That on which you are gazing 
is the fossil of that man-eating monster, the Ippy 
Do-Do, now dead perhaps a million years,” re¬ 
plied Jeremiah Long. 

“Ha, ha! ” laughed Chunky. “A man-eater? 
Why, that thing couldn’t eat a grain of sugar 
without choking to death on it.” 

“ Had you one of them on your person, you 
would change your mind,” answered Jeremiah, 
laughing heartily, the Overland Riders joining in. 

The Mystery Man, upon being further ques¬ 
tioned, admitted that he had used the Overland 
party to further his efforts to capture the moon¬ 
shiners, knowing that the law-breakers would sus¬ 
pect them, and that when the Riders got near 
their lair that fact would be promptly evident in 
the actions of the moonshiners. The Mystery 
Man’s scheme turned out just as he planned that 
it would. 


254 


GRACE HARLOWE 


In the further conversation it developed that 
either Jeremiah or Red Wolf had watched con¬ 
stantly over the Overlanders during the greater 
part of their stay in the Hills, and that the Mys¬ 
tery Man’s weapon had, on more than one occa¬ 
sion, discouraged prowlers bent on mischief — 
that the mysterious messages and warnings were 
his. He said that it was Red Wolf who threw the 
sack of revolvers to them in the miners’ cabin; 
and on the same occasion that it was Red Wolf 
and himself who had driven off the white men who 
were holding the Overlanders until the leader of 
the moonshiners could be communicated with. 

Mr. Long was eagerly urged to accompany the 
Overlanders for a time as their guest, but he de¬ 
clined, saying that he must return to the fort to 
see Mr. Comstock and send the prisoners away for 
trial. He promised, however, that he would try 
to join them later on. 

Camp was broken that day, but before leav¬ 
ing the deserted city the Overland Riders set 
up a rude cross over the grave of the Indian, 
and Tom Gray inscribed thereon the following 
epitaph: 

“ Here lies Red Wolf, an Indian and a Man! 
Stranger, the accent is on the last word! ” 

It was ten days later when Jeremiah Long un- 


IN THE BLACK HILLS 


255 


expectedly walked into the Overland camp far up 
in the Hills, and announced that he had come to 
accept their invitation and have a “ play spell,” 
as he expressed it. He and San Antone, almost 
from the beginning, became fast friends, the 
Texan being particularly drawn to Jeremiah be¬ 
cause of the latter’s readiness with his weapon, 
and one evening, in the presence of the guide, 
Jeremiah confided to his hosts that their guide 
was one of the most notorious gunmen left over 
from the old West. 

San Antone flushed deeply under the accusa¬ 
tion. 

“ Thet’s too much, Professor,” he objected. “ I 
nevah drawed a gun ’cept in self-defense. I nevah 
did,” drawled the guide. 

“ Of course you haven’t, Tony. You are a dear, 
sweet man, and such a gentle soul,” cooed Emma, 
patting the guide’s revolver holster and gazing 
soulfully up into his embarrassed face, to the 
hilarious enjoyment of the entire Overland party. 

The journey through the Hills came to an end 
all too soon for the Overland Riders, and one day 
a few weeks later they turned their ponies home¬ 
ward, regretfully bidding good-bye to the Hills 
that had given them such a large measure of ad¬ 
venture. Acting upon the suggestion of Jeremiah 
Long, they decided to take their next summer’s 


256 


GRACE HARLOWE 


ride in the Bad Lands/where he promised that 
they would find all the excitement they craved. 

They did, and the story of that eventful sum¬ 
mer’s adventures will be told in a following 
volume, “ Grace Harlowe’s Overland Riders at 
Circle 0 Ranch.” The cattle rustlers and their 
plotting to rid the mountains of the Overlanders, 
the adventures at the Circle 0 Ranch, and the 
mountain battles, give a true and exciting picture 
of the life on one of the fast disappearing great 
western ranches. 


THE END 


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Tools of an Infamous Conspiracy. 

4. DAVE DARRIN ON THE ASIATIC STATION; or, Winning Lieu¬ 

tenants’ Commissions on the Admiral’s Flagship. 

5. DAVE DARRIN AND THE GERMAN SUBMARINES; or. Making 

a Clean-up of the Hun Sea Monsters. 

6. DAVE DARRIN AFTER THE MINE LAYERS; or, Hitting the 

Enemy a Hard Naval Blow. 

THE CONQUEST OF THE UNITED 
STATES SERIES 

By H. IRVING HANCOCK 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

If the United States had not entered the war many things 
might have happened to America. No liberty-loving Ameri¬ 
can boy can afford to miss reading these books. 

1. THE INVASION OF THE UNITED STATES; or, Uncle Sam’s Boys 

at the Capture of Boston. 

2. IN THE BATTLE FOR NEW YORK; or. Uncle Sam’s Boys in the 

Desperate Struggle for the Metropolis. 

3. AT THE DEFENSE OF PITTSBURGH; or, The Struggle to Save 

America’s “Fighting Steel’’ Supply. 

4. MAKING THE LAST STAND FOR OLD GLORY; or. Uncle Sam’s 

Boys in the Last Frantic Drive. 

















THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB SERIES 

By H. IRVING HANCOCK 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 


Bright and sparkling as the waters 
over which the Motor Boat Boys sail. 

Once cast off for a cruise with these 
hardy young fresh-water navigators 
the reader will not ask to be “put 
ashore” until the home port has finally 
been made. Manliness and pluck are 
reflected on every page; the plots are 
ingenious, the action swift, and the in¬ 
terest always tense. There is neither 
a yawn in a paragraph nor a dull mo¬ 
ment in a chapter in this stirring 
series. No boy or girl will willingly 
lay down a volume of it until “the end.” The stories also em¬ 
body much useful information about the operation and hand¬ 
ling of small power boats. 



1. THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OF THE KENNEBEC; or. The Secret 

of Smugglers’ Island. 

2. THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT NANTUCKET; or, The Mystery of 

the Dunstan Heir. 

3. THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB OFF LONG ISLAND; or, A Daring 

Marine Game at Racing Speed. 

4 . THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AND THE WIRELESS; or, The Dot, 

Dash and Dare Cruise. 

5. THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB IN FLORIDA; or, Laying the Ghost 

of Alligator Swamp. 

6. THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB AT THE GOLDEN GATE; or, A 

Thrilling Capture in the Great Fog. 

f. THE MOTOR BOAT CLUB ON THE GREAT LAKES; or, The 
Flying Dutchman of the Big Fresh Water. 








THE SUBMARINE BOYS SERIES 

By VICTOR G. DURHAM 

PRICE, 11.00 EACH 

A voyage in an undersea boat! What 
boy has not done so time and again in 
his youthful dreams? The Submarine 
Boys did it in reality, diving into the 
dark depths of the sea, then, like Father 
Neptune, rising dripping from the deep 
to sunlight and safety. Yet it was not 
all easy sailing for the Submarine Boys, 
for these hardy young “undersea pi¬ 
rates” experienced a full measure of ex¬ 
citement and had their share of thrills, 
as all who sail under the surface of the 
seas are certain to do. The author 
knows undersea boats, and the reader who voyages with him 
may look forward to an instructive as well as lively cruise. 

1. THE SUBMARINE BOYS ON DUTY; or. Life on a Diving Torpedo 

Boat 

2. THE SUBMARINE BOYS’ TRIAL TRIP; or, “Making Good” as 

Young Experts. 

3. THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE MIDDIES; or, The Prize De¬ 

tail at Annapolis. 

4. THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SPIES; or. Dodging the 

Sharks of the Deep. 

5. THE SUBMARINE BOYS’ LIGHTNING CRUISE; or, The Young 

Kings of the Deep. 

6. THE SUBMARINE BOYS FOR THE FLAG; or, Deeding Their Lives 

to Uncle Sara. 

7. THE SUBMARINE BOYS AND THE SMUGGLERS; or, Breaking 

Up the New Jersey Customs Frauds. 

8. THE SUBMARINE BOYS’ SECRET MISSION; or, Beating an Am¬ 

bassador’s Game. 














THE PONY RIDER BOYS SERIES 

By FRANK GEE PATCHIN 


PRICE, $1.00 EACH 


This unusual and popular series tells 
vividly the story of four adventure-lov¬ 
ing lads, who, with their guardian, spent 
their summer vacations in the saddle in 
search of recreation and healthful 
adventure, though for a time it seemed to 
them that nature and man had conspired 
to defeat them at every turn. Bong 
journeys over mountain, through the 
fastness of primitive forest and across 
burning desert, lead them into the wild 
places of their native land as well as 
into many strange and exciting experi¬ 
ences. There is not a dull moment in the series for the Pony 
Rider Boys nor for those who read of their summer wander¬ 
ings. 

1. THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES; or. The Secret of 

the Lost Claim. 

2. THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS; or, The Veiled Riddle of the 

Plains. 



3. THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA; or, The Mystery of the 

Old Custer Trail. 

4. THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE OZARKS; or, The Secret of 

Ruby Mountain. 

5. THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI; or, Finding a Key to 

the Desert Maze. 

6. THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO; or, The End of the 

Silver Trail. 

7. THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE GRAND CANYON; or, The 

Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch. 

8. THE PONY RIDER BOYS WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS; or, On 

the Trail of the Border Bandits. 












THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS 

SERIES 

By FRANK GEE PATCHIN 

PRICE, 51.00 EACH 


“Farming? Pooh!” This, today, is the atti¬ 
tude of the average American young man. Yet 
the most solid and enduring wealth comes out of 
the soil. The old farming conditions are passing. 
The ranch or great farm of today is really a 
gigantic business undertaking, employing multi¬ 
tudes, and those of the employees who rise and 
lead these multitudes find the best of incomes 
awaiting them. Ranch and farm today distinctly 
bid for brains, not mere muscle. Do you know, 
for instance, that from $10,000 to $12,000 a year 
is very common pay for the foremen of the great 
wheat ranches in Kansas? Have you any idea of 
the excitements, the glories of this life on great 
ranches in the West? Any bright boy will “de¬ 
vour” the books of this series, once he has made 
a start with the first volume. 

1. THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE RANCH; or. 

The Boy Shepherds of the Great Divide. 

2. THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS’ GREATEST ROUND¬ 

UP; or, Pitting Their Wits Against a Packers’ Combine. 

3. THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS ON THE PLAINS; or, 

Following the Steam Plows Across the Prairie. 

4. THE RANGE AND GRANGE HUSTLERS AT CHICAGO; or, The 

Conspiracy of the Wheat Pit. 

THE BOYS OF STEEL SERIES 

By JAMES R. MEARS 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

In thi* splendid series the great American steel industry is exploited by 
a master pen. The author put in much time studying conditions at the 
iron mines, on the transportation routes and at the big steel mills. He has 
made of these volumes a series of romances with scenes laid in the iron and 
steel world. Each book presents a vivid picture of some phase of this 
great industry. The information given is exact and truthful; above all, 
each story is full of adventure and fascination. The steel industry today 
offers a splendid field for the efforts of really bright American youths. 
There are great possibilities of careers in this line of work; the brightest 
who enter may in time win some of the highest incomes paid in this coun¬ 
try. And the work is full of fascination throughout. 

1. THE IRON BOYS IN THE MINES; or, Starting at the Bottom of 

the Shaft. 

2. THE IRON BOYS AS FOREMEN; or, Heading the Diamond Drill 

Shift. 

3. THE IRON BOYS ON THE ORE BOATS; or, Roughing It on the 

4. THE IRON BOYS IN THE STEEL MILLS; or, Beginning Anew in 

the Cinder Pits. 


'~&te RANGE 
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HUSTLERS ON 
THE RANCH 
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THE CIRCUS BOYS SERIES 

By EDGAR B. P. DARLINGTON 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

No call to the heart of the youth of 
America finds a readier response than the 
call of the billowing canvas, the big red 
wagons, the crash of the circus band and 
the trill of the ringmaster’s whistle. It 
is a call that captures the imagination of 
old and young alike, and so do the books 
of this series capture and enthrall the 
reader, for they were written by one who, 
besides wielding a master pen, has fol¬ 
lowed the sawdust trail from coast to 
coast, who knows the circus people and 
the sturdy manliness of those who do 
and dare for the entertainment of mil¬ 
lions of circus-goers when the grass is 
green. Mr. Darlington paints a true picture of the circus life. 

1. THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE FLYING RINGS; or. Making the 

Start in the Sawdust Life. 

2. THE CIRCUS BOYS ACROSS THE CONTINENT; or. Winning 

New Laurels on the Tanbark. 

3. THE CIRCUS BOYS IN DIXIE LAND; or. Winning the Plaudits of 

the Sunny South. 

4. THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE MISSISSIPPI; or, Afloat with the 

Big Show on the Big River. 

5. THE CIRCUS BOYS ON THE PLAINS; or, The Young Advance 

Agents Ahead of the Show. 

BOOKS FOR GIRLS 

THE MADGE MORTON SERIES 

By AMY D. V. CHALMERS 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

The heroines of these stories are four girls, who with en¬ 
thusiasm for outdoor life, transformed a dilapidated canal 
boat into a pretty floating summer home. They christened 
the craft “The Merry Maid” and launched it on the shore of 
Chesapeake Bay. The stories are full of fun and adventure, 
with not a dull moment anywhere. 

1. MADGE MORTON—CAPTAIN OF THE MERRY MAID. 

2. MADGE MORTON’S SECRET. 

3. MADGE MORTON’S TRUST. 

4. MADGE MORTON’S VICTORY. 












L THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS SERIES 

By JANET ALDRIDGE 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

Four clever girls go hiking around 
the country and meet with many thril¬ 
ling and provoking adventures. These 
stories pulsate with the atmosphere of 
outdoor life. 

1. THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS UNDER 
CANVAS; or, Fan and Frolic in the Sum¬ 
mer Camp. 

2. THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ACROSS 
COUNTRY; or, The Young Pathfinders 
on a Summer Hike. 

3. THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS AFLOAT; 
or, The Stormy Cruise of the Red Rover. 

4. THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS IN THE HILLS; or, The Missing 

Pilot of the White Mountains. 

5. THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS BY THE SEA; or, The Loss of the 

Lonesome Bar. 

6. THE MEADOW-BROOK GIRLS ON THE TENNIS COURTS; or. 

Winning Out in the Big Tournament. 

THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS SERIES 

By LAURA DENT CRANE 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

Girls as well as boys love wholesome adventure, a wealth 
of which is found in many forms and in many scenes in the 
volumes of this series. 

1. THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT NEWPORT; or, Watching the Sum¬ 

mer Parade. 

2. THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS IN THE BERKSHIRES; or. The 

Ghost of Lost Man’s Trail. 

3. THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS ALONG THE HUDSON; or. Fighting 

Fire in Sleepy Hollow. 

4. THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT CHICAGO; or. Winning Out 

Against Heavy Odds. 

5. THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT PALM BEACH; or. Proving Their 

Mettle Under Southern Skies. 

6. THE AUTOMOBILE GIRLS AT WASHINGTON; or, Checkmating 

the Plots of Foreign Spies. 



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Janet Aldridge 













THE HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS SERIES 

By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

The scenes, episodes, and adventures 
through which Grace Harlowe and her 
intimate chums pass in the course of 
these stories are pictured with a vivacity 
that at once takes the young feminine 
captive. 

1. GRACE HARLOWE’S PLEBE YEAR AT 

HIGH SCHOOL; or, The Merry Doings of , 
the Oakdale Freshmen Girls. 

2. GRACE HARLOWE’S SOPHOMORE YEAR 

AT HIGH SCHOOL; or, The Record of the 
Girl Chums in Work and Athletics. 

3. GRACE HARLOWE’S JUNIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; or, 

Fast Friends in the Sororities. 

4. GRACE HARLOWE’S SENIOR YEAR AT HIGH SCHOOL; or. 

The Parting of the Ways. 



THE COLLEGE GIRLS SERIES 

By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

Every school and college girl will recognize that the ac¬ 
count of Grace Harlowe’s experiences at Overton College is 
true to life. 

1. GRACE HARLOWE’S FIRST YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. 

2. GRACE HARLOWE’S SECOND YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. 

3. GRACE HARLOWE’S THIRD YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. 

4 . GRACE HARLOWE’S FOURTH YEAR AT OVERTON COLLEGE. 

5. GRACE HARLOWE’S RETURN TO OVERTON CAMPUS. 

6. GRACE HARLOWE’S PROBLEM. 

7. GRACE HARLOWE’S GOLDEN SUMMER. 











THE GRACE HARLOWE OVERSEAS 

SERIES 

By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

Grace Harlowe went with the Over- 
ton College Red Cross Unit to France, 
there to serve her country by aiding the 
American fighting forces. These books 
will interest every girl reader because 
they describe the great war from a girl’s 
point of view. 

1. GRACE HARLOWE OVERSEAS. 

2. GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE RED 
CROSS IN FRANCE. 

3. GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE MA¬ 
RINES AT CHATEAU THIERRY. 

4. GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE U. S. 
TROOPS IN THE ARGONNE. 

5. GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE YANKEE 
SHOCK BOYS AT ST. QUENTIN. 

6. GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY ON THE 
RHINE. 

THE GRACE HARLOWE OVERLAND 
RIDERS SERIES 

By JESSIE GRAHAM FLOWER, A. M. 

PRICE, $1.00 EACH 

Grace Harlowe and her friends of the Overton College Unit 
seek adventure on the mountain trails and in the wilder sec¬ 
tions of their homeland, after their return from service in 
France. These are stories of real girls for real girls. 

1. GRACE HARLOWE’S OVERLAND RIDERS ON THE OLD 

APACHE TRAIL. 

2. GRACE HARLOWE’S OVERLAND RIDERS ON THE GREAT 

AMERICAN DESERT. 

3. GRACE HARLOWE’S OVERLAND RIDERS AMONG THE KEN¬ 

TUCKY MOUNTAINEERS. 

4. GRACE HARLOWE’S OVERLAND RIDERS IN THE GREAT 

NORTH WOODS. 

















WEE BOOKS FOR WEE FOLKS 

For little hands to fondle and for mother to read aloud. 
Every ounce of them will give a ton of joy. 

WEE BOOKS FOR WEE FOLKS SERIES 

1. MOTHER GOOSE NURSERY TALES. 

2. MOTHER GOOSE NURSERY RHYMES. 

3. A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES. Robert 

Louis Stevenson. 

4. THE FOOLISH FOX. 

5. THREE LITTLE PIGS. 

6. THE ROBBER KITTEN. 

7. LITTLE BLACK SAMBO. 

8. THE LITTLE SMALL RED HEN. 

9. THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. 

10. THE LITTLE WISE CHICKEN THAT 

KNEW IT ALL. 

11. PIFFLE’S ABC BOOK OF FUNNY ANIMALS. 

12. THE FOUR LITTLE PIGS THAT DIDN’T HAVE ANY MOTHER. 

13. THE LITTLE PUPPY THAT WANTED TO KNOW TOO MUCH. 

14. THE COCK, THE MOUSE AND THE LITTLE RED HEN. 

15. GRUNTY GRUNTS AND SMILEY SMILE—INDOORS. 

16. GRUNTY GRUNTS AND SMILEY SMILE—OUTDOORS. 

WEE FOLKS BIBLE STORIES SERIES 

J. WEE FOLKS STORIES FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. In 
Words of One Syllable. 

2. WEE FOLKS STORIES FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT. In 

Words of One Syllable. 

3. WEE FOLKS LIFE OF CHRIST. 

4. WEE FOLKS BIBLE ABC BOOK. 

5. LITTLE PRAYERS FOR LITTLE LIPS. 

THE WISH FAIRY SERIES 

1. THE LONG AGO YEARS STORIES. 

2. THE WISH FAIRY OF THE SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 

FOREST. 

3. THE WISH FAIRY AND DEWY DEAR. 

4. THE MUD WUMPS OF THE SUNSHINE AND SHADOW 

FOREST. 

PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED IN COLORS. PRICE, 50c. EACH 




















WEE FOLKS PETER RABBIT SERIES 


1. THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT. 

2. HOW PETER RABBIT WENT TO SEA. 

3. PETER RABBIT AT THE FARM. 

4. PETER RABBIT’S CHRISTMAS. 

5. PETER RABBIT’S EASTER. 

6. WHEN PETER RABBIT WENT TO 
SCHOOL. 

7. PETER RABBIT’S BIRTHDAY. 

8. PETER RABBIT GOES A-VISITING. 

9. PETER RABBIT AND JACK-THE-JUMPER. 

10. PETER RABBIT, JACK-THE-JUMPER, AND THE LITTLE BOY. 

WEE FOLKS CINDERELLA SERIES 

Rhymed and Retold by Kenneth Graham Duffield 

1. THE WONDERFUL STORY OF CINDERELLA. 

2. THE STORY OF LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. 

3. THE OLDTIME STORY OF THE THREE BEARS. 

4. THE OLD, OLD STORY OF POOR COCK ROBIN. 

5. CHICKEN LITTLE. 

6. PUSS IN BOOTS. 

7. THREE LITTLE KITTENS THAT LOST THEIR MITTENS. 

8. JACK THE GIANT KILLER. 

LITTLE BUNNIE BUNNIEKIN SERIES 

1. LITTLE BUNNIE BUNNIEKIN. 

2. LITTLE LAMBIE LAMBKIN. 

3. LITTLE MOUSIE MOUSIEKIN. 

4. LITTLE DEARIE DEER. 

5. LITTLE SQUIRRELIE SQUIRRELIEKIN. 

6. OLD RED REYNARD THE FOX. 

PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED IN COLORS. 



PRICE, 50c. EACH 


















LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
























































